Raid Yields 2,200 High-Grade Marijuana Plants : Drugs: Warehouse in Golden Hill harbored a sophisticated growing operation and plants with a potential value of $8 million. Three people are arrested.

Narcotics agents Wednesday shut down a large, sophisticated, indoor marijuana-growing operation in an eastern Golden Hill warehouse and arrested three people, including a federal fugitive, in what authorities said was one of the largest busts of its kind in San Diego County history.

More than 2,200 high-grade plants that ranged from seedlings to 6-foot-high trees were seized at the warehouse at 3471 Pickwick St. Only a small number of the sinsemilla, or seedless, plants had reached maturity.

If all the plants in the warehouse had been at the harvesting stage, their value would have been $8 million, said Sheriff’s Lt. Patrick J. Kerins of the San Diego County Narcotic Task Force, an interagency law enforcement group.

“When you’ve got marijuana of this quality, it’s not destined for the street corners,” Kerins said. “It’s probably destined for delivery throughout the U.S.”

Investigators have yet to determine what route the marijuana followed, he said.

Drug agents went to the nondescript, fenced-in warehouse at the end of a dead-end street about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday after receiving an anonymous tip two days before, Kerins said.

Agents arrested Gary Clamp, 50, suspected of being the leader of the operation whom authorities said they had been looking for since he violated parole on a drug conviction in Los Angeles in 1989.

Also arrested were Clamp’s girlfriend, Karol Zunino, who turned 46 on Wednesday, and Darryl Miller, 31. All three live in San Diego.

James Schield, a spokesman for the U.S. marshal’s office, said charges of possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute a controlled substance will be sought against the three, who were booked into the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego on Wednesday afternoon.

Based on “meticulous records” and photos of prized plants seized by agents, Kerins said, investigators believe that the operation had existed since at least September, 1990. According to property records, Kerins said, Clamp bought the building for $260,000 early that year.

The interior of the 3,574-square-foot building featured the latest in indoor growing techniques utilizing the most basic of materials. Plants of similar size were grouped in neat rows beneath bright lights. Strategically placed window air-conditioner units kept air moving and temperatures at about the optimal 80 degrees.

Snakes of twisted wire fed power to the lights and garden hoses and drip lines led from tubs of liquid fertilizer to plants.

From a tank hanging from the ceiling, carbon dioxide was injected into the room, Kerins said, “causing those little babies to soak it up and grow big and strong.”

Indoor growers have been detected in the past by the huge electric bills they run up. However, this operation appeared to have tapped illegally into power lines for electricity, officials said. The warehouse also had a diesel generator and another large, portable generator.

Kerins said records show that the warehouse went for periods with no record of electrical use.

Authorities said the average cycle from seedling to maturity in such an operation is three to four months.

Although workers at nearby businesses said they noticed no strange activity at the warehouse, a mail carrier, Pedro Diaz, said he had his suspicions in the past three months he was on the route.

“They never received any mail whatsoever,” Diaz said.

The arrest of Clamp culminated a three-year search by federal authorities, said James Schield, a deputy U.S. marshal.

In addition to being wanted on the 1989 Los Angeles parole violation, Clamp has a pending indictment for alleged cocaine distribution in connection with a 1989 Colorado case, Schield said.

Local authorities began looking for Clamp in San Diego after he and Zunino were arrested in June, 1991, on suspicion of possessing and transporting a small amount of marijuana for sale. Clamp, however, used an alias when arrested and jumped bail by the time authorities discovered his true identity. Zunino did not have to do jail time.

She was arrested three months ago by U.S. marshals and charged with harboring a fugitive, Schield said, but the case was dismissed.

“We knew he had something going,” Schield said. “It was just a matter of finding it.”

The largest previous bust of an indoor marijuana-growing operation occurred in Escondido in 1985 when agents seized more than 3,500 high-grade plants in two warehouses. Authorities valued the marijuana taken in that bust at $6.5 million.

Wednesday’s high-profile confiscation was preceded by several other busts. Early Wednesday morning, U.S. Border Patrol agents seized 693 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated street value of $1.4 million, in two separate seizures. One occurred about 4:40 a.m. in Imperial Beach and the second about 4:10 a.m. along California 94 and California 188 near Tecate.

On Tuesday night, Border Patrol agents seized 178 pounds of marijuana valued at $300,000 east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

In all three seizures, agents discovered the marijuana in duffel bags. In all, 10 people were arrested on drug charges, officials said.

Also Wednesday, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested four people in connection with an alleged methamphetamine ring. Arrested on charges of possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute the drug were Jose Yanez Castillo, 46; Raul Flores Mendoza, 21, and Rosend Morado Yanez, 25, all of San Diego; and Jose Zazueta Beltran, age and address unknown.

Authorities said the four were taken into custody as they attempted to sell undercover agents 3 pounds of methamphetamine in a National City shopping center parking lot at 101 Highland Ave.