“Joint” Operation Nets $30M in Marijuana

Santa Barbara – Santa Barbara County Sheriff Narcotics deputies, acting in concert with California Department of Justice, National Forest Service, and Sheriff’s Search and Rescue teams conducted a series of raids in the area’s coastal foothills this month and have destroyed nearly 12,000 mature marijuana plants with a reported street value of nearly $30,000,000.

According to Drew Sugars, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Public Information Officer, “no arrests were made” during the operation which focused upon an area just southwest of Cuyama, but evidence at the grow sites indicates several encampments of field workers among the growing fields.

It is believed, Sugars reported, that operations of this size are supported by Mexican cartels and organized drug cultivators.  “They pose a significant risk to public safety,” Sugars reported, as he detailed several thousand pounds of trash, loaded handguns, and the several possible booby traps discovered at a site just off a well-traveled road in the hills above the city of Santa Barbara.

As detailed in the California Department of Justice Campaign Against Marijuana Production highlighted by Sugars’ report to the media, recent years have seen dramatic increases in the intensity of illegal cultivation throughout the area as authorities are commonly finding more than 25,000 plants at a time in Santa Barbara County.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s detectives urge anyone seeing unusual activity in the recreational areas of the National Forest to contact law enforcement immediately and to avoid contact with irrigation tubing, multiple vehicles, or individuals transporting food or unusual camping supplies on hiking trails in the area.

Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Sheriff Narcotics Division

Read more:

Santa Maria Times: Agents Seize Marijuana Plants Worth $29.6

Noozhawk: Sheriff’s Department Conducts Backcountry Marijuana Eradication