Thread: Reservation used to grow marijuana

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonia ... xml&coll=7

Warm Springs - Police arrest four men, say a Mexican cartel is behind the huge crop
Friday, September 12, 2008
BRYAN DENSON
The Oregonian Staff

Federal authorities say a Mexican drug cartel turned remote patches of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation into vast marijuana plantations the past two growing seasons, leading to seizures of more than 30,000 plants.

"It is believed that these marijuana cultivation grows were organized, funded and operated by a Mexican national organization which has been operating out of the Pacific Northwest, including Yakima, Umatilla and other non-Indian lands," Warm Springs Tribal Police Chief Carmen Smith said.

Two Mexican nationals suspected of tending nearly 7,000 plants this summer in a wooded ravine on the reservation were arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland. Hector Castillo Corona, 24, and Alfredo Olivera Corona, 21, pleaded not guilty to charges of manufacturing more than 1,000 cannabis plants.

Two more men linked to the operation were arrested Thursday and are expected to be arraigned today, federal authorities said.

The first and largest of the Warm Springs marijuana crops was seized July 27, 2007 -- 17,763 plants, with an estimated street value of $17 million, Smith said. The second -- 5,870 plants, with a potential street value of $6.5 million -- was taken down July 14 of this year.

Two days later came the 6,951-plant seizure that prompted the Coronas' arrest. Police also recovered a rifle; the operation was valued at $10 million.

Smith said the marijuana was discovered when the Oregon Air National Guard performed flyovers this summer of the reservation's 1,019 acres.

Tribal police detectives and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents linked this summer's plantations to the same cartel because identical water pumps and irrigation systems were used, Smith said. Plants appear to have been carried from one site to the other in paper cartons.

In a report to the tribal council, the chief said drug gangs pick tribal reservations because they are isolated and short of resources to combat major traffickers.

"These organizations have also been exploiting traditional family and cultural ties between reservations in this region in order to facilitate their criminal enterprise," Smith wrote.

Bryan Denson: 503-294-7614; bryandenson@news.oregonian.com

©2008 Oregonian

Got 'em!

I have to admit, this shakes me up. This is not far from areas where we have intended to go huckleberry picking soon (although we would not be allowed onto the reservation lands, it is quite close).

I am concerned about what and who is out there in the mountains forests, doing what, and would we possibly stumble upon it in one of our family weekends out into the Cascades?

There is a real problem in this country when you are risking your life backpacking in our national "parks" or other places like that. This is getting wayyyyyyyyy out of control. We need more federal agents and we need them now.

I have lived here all of my life, and know the mountains up there quite well, and have spent a great deal of my childhood and adult years in them, and do not plan to be scared out, but feel concerned for my families own safety out there now.

I have always felt that the only advantage I would have over someone who is not a national here, and not familiar with the areas, is that I do, but the unfortunate thing is, I know these types are armed when up there.

We do need more federal agents and also to pour some federal dollars into the reservations police forces in order to give them what they need to protect themselves and their lands from this encroachment.