Police raid close to home

For about the last eight months, several suspects allegedly ran a sophisticated marijuana operation in a warehouse just 25 feet from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Topanga Station in Canoga Park, police said Wednesday.

Three men were taken into custody after officers served a search warrant on the warehouse in the 8400 block of Canoga Avenue.

“It was very sophisticated,” said LAPD Officer Karen Raynor. She said the growers used insulation material to seal cracks in the building.

But about a week ago, officers who were walking in the station’s parking lot noticed something that was out of the ordinary.

“They happened to catch a whiff of it,” Raynor said, and a surveillance operation was launched.

-- Robert J. Lopez