August 1, 2002

sfgate.com

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) -- A remote marijuana grove near Lake Cachuma was uprooted during a Wednesday raid in what was described as one of the biggest pot hauls ever in Santa Barbara County -- 25,600 plants worth $37 million.

There were no arrests and authorities don't know who was cultivating the huge crop on private and Los Padres National Forest lands.

"We don't believe the property owners are involved in any way," sheriff's Lt. Dominick Palera said.

About 44 people and three helicopters from federal, state and local agencies descended on the growing sites in canyons south of Highway 154. The 3- to 5-foot plants were cut down and hauled away in trucks to the county landfill at Tajiguas. The plants were too green and moist to burn, Palera said.

The Sheriff's Department estimated the plants, when fully grown, would have had a wholesale street value of $37 million.

The largest of the two groves was spotted by sheriff's narcotics officers flying over the area about two weeks ago, the lieutenant said. The second crop was discovered a week later.

A sophisticated watering system was used to irrigate the crop.

It was the biggest marijuana haul since about 13,000 plants were seized near Cuyama in 1989. That small, isolated community in the northeastern corner of the county was also the setting for the county's largest ever pot bust in the mid-1980s, when up to 60,000 plants were seized and six people arrested.