2,000 Pot Plants Destroyed in Drug Raid

A team of narcotics officers on Monday raided an illegal pot plantation in the hills above Ojai and destroyed more than 2,000 plants of premium marijuana that officials said were ready for harvest.

Using machetes, the team took about five hours to hack down the plants found in Senior Canyon in Los Padres National Forest northeast of Ojai. The marijuana was found in the rugged brush high above the ranches near the private Thacher School.

This is the sixth pot plantation destroyed by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department since July, said Capt. Craig Husbands, who heads the department’s narcotics division.

As in past raids, deputies made no arrests but suspect the marijuana patch could be connected to Mexican cartels.

The more than 2,000 plants, which officials estimated to be worth about $8 million, bring the total number of plants destroyed this year to about 22,000, Husbands said.

The plants destroyed, a record number, are worth an estimated $85 million and could have produced more than 13 1/2 tons of marijuana for street sale, officials said. Deputies estimate that each plant produces at least one pound of high-grade marijuana, with a street value of about $4,000.

The previous record for plants destroyed was set last year when the department discovered and uprooted 7,100 plants. Before that, the largest number of plants eradicated by the department was 2,100 in 1985.

Husbands said the Sheriff’s Department found the plants Monday by following a tip.

“We waited for several weeks, doing surveillance of the [marijuana patch] before going in,” he said.

The narcotics officers decided to move only after the marijuana became ready for harvest.

“It was actually in the process of being harvested,” Husbands said.

Just two weeks ago, about 1,000 marijuana plants were discovered south of Piru in Eureka Canyon by a rancher checking on his cattle.

Authorities have alleged a link between the pot farms and Mexican drug cartels. Investigators said the irrigation equipment and other evidence collected in Monday’s raid are similar to that found at other marijuana farms--”but we have not made that connection [to the cartels] yet,” Husbands said.

About half a dozen sheriff’s deputies were flown to the site by helicopter at dawn Monday. Deputies had believed that the plot contained only about 500 plants, said Sgt. Earl Matthews.

But as the deputies followed irrigation lines, they found more and more of the illegal weed. Just a few hours into the operation, deputies had to call for reinforcements.

About 25 narcotics officers from the Sheriff’s Department, Oxnard Police Department, U.S. Forest Service and the FBI worked for well over five hours hacking away at the plants that had grown to about 14 feet, sprouting the pungent-smelling buds that are coveted by drug dealers.

Matthews and another deputy helped load the plants after they were airlifted out of the back country. The plants will be burned by the department.

Matthews hefted the dead plants onto a truck. “Well,” he said, “we ruined somebody’s day today.”