Pubdate: Tue, 17 Aug 2004
Source: Desert Sun, The (CA)
Copyright: 2004 The Desert Sun
Contact:  http://www.thedesertsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112
Author: Darrell Smith

POLICE SEIZE MORE THAN 3,000 MARIJUANA PLANTS

Sheriff's deputies took down a major marijuana growing operation early 
Monday, pulling thousands of plants with an estimated value in the millions 
of dollars.

Riverside County Sheriff's Department special investigators and air units 
targeted the Tripp Flats of the San Bernardino National Forest area near 
Anza, said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Earl Quinata.

Sheriff's investigators spotted more than 3,000 plants, estimated to be 
worth more than $15 million.

The plants were fed by what investigators described as an "extensive and 
sophisticated" water source, Quinata said. Chemicals and fertilizer were 
also found at the scene.

No one was arrested.

It was the second major marijuana seizure in less than a month in Riverside 
County.

In July, deputies seized an even bigger cache of marijuana plants in the 
canyons behind Snow Creek Village west of Palm Springs.

In that operation, deputies plucked several thousand marijuana plants from 
the site, sheriff's officials said.
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