http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html

Lou Dobbs Tonight/ Broken Borders CNN Airs9/13/06

And up next, we'll take you on a massive manhunt and raid as authorities try to crush Mexican drug rings operating inside the United States. Stay with us.

DOBBS: Mexican drug cartels are operating not only with impunity across the border with Mexico, but with impunity deep within the United States; 800 miles from Mexico, drug traffickers are now operating on the California/Oregon border in our nation's national forests.

Authorities, this week, seized $80 million of marijuana. But officials say the bust was only the tip of the iceberg.

CASEY WIAN, CNN (on the ground in the Siskiyou Mountains): Just after dawn Tuesday, 100 law enforcement officers meet at a staging area in the Klamath National Forest.

They're preparing to raid a massive marijuana growing operation linked to Mexican drug traffickers. These rugged mountains provide perfect cover for huge marijuana gardens, which are overwhelming the tiny Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department. So, it's working with nearly a dozen federal, state and local agencies.

As the operations commander begins a reconnaissance flight, medics get ready.

DARRELL FROST, SISKIYOU COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: The Mexican cartel type stuff, is these folks are willing to protect their marijuana groves and so the potential for trauma from gunshot wounds is high.

WIAN: Deputies head out to set up a perimeter hoping to catch growers before they flee. Then the raid begins. (on camera): Marijuana gardens are located in such remote terrain that sheriff deputies must be air lifted in by helicopter, two at a time on a rope. Another chopper hovers above the garden providing cover in case these growers shoot at the incoming deputies.

From the air, the marijuana is easy to spot. On the ground, it's overwhelming, thousands of plants eight feet tall.

SHERIFF RICK RIGGINS, SISKIYOU COUNTY CALIFORNIA: This is the bud. These plants probably have a couple of more months before they get there. But this is where the money is at.

WIAN: And the money appears headed to Mexico. From the living quarters and supplies, to sophisticated irrigation systems, these gardens bare all the signs of Mexican drug traffickers. The SWAT team pursued about a dozen men though the thick timber.

WIAN: Though they escaped, deputies seized plenty of evidence, including boxes of .45 caliber bullets, notebooks in Spanish and a cell phone. Investigators are tracking the kingpin.

What we have to do is gather every bit of information we can from in here and the intel that we can and try to put it together to track these guys back.

WIAN: Meanwhile other agents begin cutting the plants. Each one worth about $5,000; 12 hours after the operation began, deputies continue to stack load after load of dope. They cut 12,000 plants the first day. The two-day total, about 16,000 plants with a street value of $80 million.

LT. JIM BETTS, SISKIYOU COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: We've got a rural area, that hunting season is going to be starting in another week. There's going to be a lot of people coming into the woods here. And for the safety of those people, we needed to get this out of here.

WIAN: Eight hundred miles from the Mexican border, Mexican drug traffickers are spreading throughout this and other national forests. But a familiar problem is on the traffickers' side. Federal money for operations like this is scarce.

Casey Wian, CNN, Siskiyou County, California.

[Note: Since this report, KTVL TV Medford, OR. reports LEOs are still locating farms in this area of Siskiyou County. These farms clear cut the land and terraced out in the open on the hillside. They get braver and braver. Many plants were 10 to 12 feet tall]

http://www.ktvl.com/engine.pl?station=k ... local.html
Another Big Pot Bust, This Time in California
September 13, 2006 - 9:30AM
A major marijuana bust outside of Yreka leaves authorities searching for suspects.

4 pot gardens were busted on Tuesday in Horse Creek. A total of 30,000 to 50,000 plants were found that may be worth up to $250 million.

SWAT teams from Jackson and Siskiyou Counties secured the area as crews began removal of the plants.

Siskiyou County Sheriff Rick Riggins said SWAT teams chased several people who were near the gardens on Tuesday, but no word yet on any arrests.

TRACKBACK! - Go here for photos raids in Siskiyou County.

http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/2006/ ... d-800.html

Friday, April 14, 2006
Invasion - The Mexican border has moved 800 miles north

Our national forests have been invaded by Mexican drug cartels, aided by MS-13 gangbangers and AWOL Mexican military growing massive marijuana farms. Last year we wrote an article, "Green cards and gangs" which was followed up by Michelle Malkin's article " Gangland". [snip]