Pot raid targets suburban homes

In Southern California’s tough real estate market, federal authorities allege that one Asian crime group thought it had found a way to make suburban tract homes profitable: clandestine indoor marijuana farms.

On Tuesday, Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local authorities searched eight locations in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, arresting four people who were allegedly involved in the marijuana growing operation, officials said.

“This case also illustrates the extremely lucrative nature of large-scale marijuana-growing operations, which require a substantial investment but can yield millions of dollars in profits,” said U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O’Brien.

DEA agents seized more than 5,600 plants from five locations in Corona, Walnut, Hesperia, Hemet and Riverside.

The raids were the culmination of a yearlong probe that has dismantled 33 clandestine growing facilities in tract homes across the region and led to the seizure of more than 19,000 plants, said DEA Special Agent Sarah Pullen.