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Article Launched: 09/15/2006 12:00:00 AM PDT

Eight million dollars in marijuana plants seized
BY PAULA M. FELIPE/Public Safety Reporter


More than two thousand illegal Marijuana plants were seized by the Butte County Sheriff's Marijuana Suppression Unit in the French Creek area of the Plumas National Forest on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The estimated street value of these plants is $8,448,000.

The illegal garden was discovered during an aerial reconnaissance mission using the Sheriff's helicopter. The garden was located in a remote area near Mountain House northeast of Berry Creek.

Sheriff's deputies hiked into the wooded area off of a Forest Service Road near Oro-Quincy Highway and about 15 minutes later found two separate gardens spread out over ridges, said Sgt. Steve Collins.

Most of the plants were on a drip system and some were probably watered by hand. The suspected Mexican National marijuana growers had cut down Manzanita bushes and numerous trees to make room for the illegal marijuana garden, a BCSO press release said.

When deputies first arrived at the garden, they searched the area and it appeared there wasn't anyone there. No firearms were found in the campsite either, Collins said.

"There were two separate grow areas about one mile apart from each other," he explained.

The first day deputies uprooted 1,300 plants and that night went home to rest while a deputy stayed to guard the road to make sure no one came back to the garden.

The next morning the deputies returned to the garden to find some of the marijuana had been cut and removed and 138 plants were hanging to dry that weren't there the day before, Collins said. Deputies also found stems laying on the ground.

"They made off with a fair amount of marijuana that night," he added. Deputies decided there must be a camp somewhere nearby, so they conducted a search and found a campsite with two tents that each had sleeping bags, food items with Spanish language labels, such as tortillas, beans, lentils, jalapenos, and pastries along with empty boxes of beer and Pepsi. A Walkman with music that had labels written in Spanish were also discovered in the camp along with pots and pans and a five-gallon propane tank for cooking.

It took five Sheriff's deputies two days to survey these gardens and eradicate all the plants. The deputies did not find any suspects at the garden.

If anyone hiking in remote areas finds a suspected illegal marijuana garden, they are urged to call: (530) 538-7389.