[Sativa]

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office found a surprise Tuesday when they launched a marijuana raid in the Scott Valley.

What they thought was a small garden ended up netting more than 35,000 marijuana plants.

“We knew there was a garden near Snow Creek, but we hadn’t expected something like this,” Sheriff Rick Riggins said. “We thought it was a small field, so we put together a small team.”

Riggins said that an aerial patrol discovered a small field of marijuana plants a few weeks before. Working with the U.S. Forest Service, the SCSO assembled a team of 20 deputies and USFS law enforcement officers.

Riggins described the plants they found as ‘spike’ plants, small with fully-grown buds. The growers are producing small, mature plants in a bid to elude law enforcement aerial patrols.

“The smaller plants are harder to spot from the air,” Riggins said. The growers are attempting to continue their illegal operations by using smaller plants.

“Last year, we had plants that were 7 or 8 feet tall,” he stated, “now we have these dwarf plants.”

The team called in for some help and it took the operation more than a day to eradicate the plants. Men were spotted near the marijuana fields, but Riggins said they ran when they saw the law enforcement officers.

“A deputy grabbed one of them, but he got away,” he said.

The man was described as Hispanic.

“We’re pretty sure that this is a cartel operation,” Riggins said.

Last year, working alongside with the Jackson County (Ore.) Sheriff’s Office and other agencies, the SCSO was part of an effort that deprived the drug cartels of more than $300 million.

“We’ve seized more than 85,000 plants so far,” Riggins said.

And, with the marijuana harvest season just beginning, the sheriff said it was just the beginning.

“It might be a big year for us,” he said.



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Source: Siskiyou Daily News
Author: BRAD SMITH
Contact: Yreka's Siskiyou Daily News - Contact Us
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