Thread: Mexican Drug Cartel Marijuana Seized in California

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MARIJUANA SEIZED


Last Friday morning shortly after 6 a.m., a Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) team of 20 agents gathered in a parking area near Santa's Village to review plans for the removal of marijuana plants discovered about two months ago.

Three helicopters-one a private aircraft under contract by CAMP and two San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department choppers-landed nearby as the briefing continued, maps were handed out and details of the planned plant seizures were discussed.

Within minutes, two armed agents at a time were attached to tethers dangling about 40-feet below the helicopters and airlifted to four different so-called marijuana grows in the San Bernardino National Forest.

“Members of today's CAMP task force include the California Department of Justice, U.S. Forest Service and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department,” special agent Denese Stokes told media representatives.

The U.S. Forest Service official explained the agents were being extra cautious because the workers tending to the grows were believed to be part of Mexican drug cartels operating in California's national forests and could be armed and dangerous.

“The grows were discovered two months ago,” Stokes stated as the next set of agents began their flight to three designated grows in the Skyforest area off Highway 18 and one on Highway 330 below Running Springs. “During the original surveillance flights our trained spotters zeroed in on the four sites which were visible from the air because of the distinctive green color of the marijuana plants.

“One of the sites was surrounded by Poodle Dog Brush,” Stokes stated, “which is almost identical in color to the marijuana plants.”

Stokes indicated the abundance of rain over the past few months provided stream water for irrigation purposes near each site.

“In the past, we'd find up to two miles of hose lines from water sources leading to the grows,” Stokes continued. “This year the workers are damming up streams and tapping the water source within a few feet of the grows.”

AGENTS IN PLACE

Once the agents were in place and the grows sites secured they began pulling each marijuana plant up by the roots.

Huge nets were dropped from the helicopters in duffel bags and the plants were placed on the nets for eventual transport by helicopter back to the command center.

When the first load of seized marijuana arrived agents quickly drug the plants and confiscated irrigation hose to an awaiting trailer for eventual transport to a disposal site where lye is poured on the plants before they are buried in the undisclosed landfill.

One of the agents, “Gunny” Dickerson told The Mountain News he would celebrate his 76th birthday in November.

Dickerson, who was a mountain deputy in Angelus Oaks for many years, is a former narcotics officer and joined CAMP two years ago

“I enjoy being flown in to the various grows,” Dickerson said with a smile. “Some of the new officers get a little nervous but once they've done it a few times they enjoy it like I do.”

BASE CAMP SPOTTED

During a surveillance flight in the vicinity of one of the Skyforest sites , an observer spotted a base camp on the side of the mountain shielded by a huge Oak tree.

The observer reported seeing a green tent and a blue tarp along with other camping material. The site was about a quarter-mile from the actual marijuana grow.

Ground crews reported finding handguns and a shotgun in the immediate vicinity of the camp.

Later, Forest Service officials had to hike into the camp site to remove hazardous materials left behind by the workers who had apparently left earlier that morning.

Evidence at the site included footprints and fresh food along with human waste.

$2.5 MILLION IN SEIZURES

At the end of the day, Stokes held a debriefing once agents were airlifted back to the command post.

“We seized 2,226 plants at the Highway 330 grow and 6,378 at the three Skyforest locations,” Stokes stated as armed deputies pulled the trailer filled with the 8,604 plants out of the parking lot at the old Santa's Village.

With each mature plant valued at about $3,000 the combined value of the seized plants topped $2.5 million. Some of the plants had reached 6-feet in height and were due to be harvested in early October.

“NInety-nine percent of the plants seized in the national forests,” Stokes said, “we planted by members of the Mexican National Cartel which has a huge network throughout California and the west.

“We've actually tracked the dollars back to Mexico,” Stokes concluded.

“Our belief,” according to a special agent at the Sacramento headquarters of the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement (BNE), “is that the Mexican drug organizations have gone heavily into marijuana operations. The overhead is much lower than running a methamphetamine lab. They are taking money from meth and putting it into expanding marijuana growing.”

BNE reports about 60 percent of the marijuana plants seized in California in 2005 were found on state or federal land.

BNE reports about 60 percent of the marijuana plants seized in California in 2005 were found on state or federal land.

Any politicians reading this? More weakness on your part.

And the agents are nervous because they think the drug cartel is armed and dangerous, growing marijuana in our own state or federal land???

Hello out there. If the drug cartel are bold enough to begin growing their drugs on our own land they are feeling like they own this territory.

Thank you Presidente Bush for welcoming our 'friends' south of the border.