Pubdate: Sat, 27 Aug 2005
Source: Salinas Californian, The (CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Salinas Californian
Contact:  http://www.californianonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3900
Note: Priority is given to letters from Monterey County residents
Author: Kimberly Chase, The Salinas Californian
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

POT RAIDS WEED OUT HIDDEN GARDENS

Mexican Drug Cartels Blamed

First Of Two Parts

Monterey County drug investigators say they're set to surpass last year's 
totals in seek-and-destroy missions on marijuana gardens, an increasing 
number of which are run by Mexican drug cartels.

The Sheriff's Office's Narcotics Division has gotten a head start on this 
year's marijuana crop: Last year's raids brought in 13,500 plants, but the 
deputies already have destroyed almost 12,000 this year in seven raids, 
with nearly two months to go in the harvest season. Next week, there are 
three raids planned, with an estimated total of 6,000 plants.

"I suspect we're probably going to top last year's numbers without any 
difficulty," said investigative Sgt. Doug Dahmen, who directs the Narcotics 
Division.

The gardens cause environmental damage to the forests, and their armed 
guards pose dangers to innocent hikers.

Dahmen said these raids are far more effective in curtailing drug use than 
stopping people with small quantities on the street.

"If you can get it at the source, you're disrupting the trade with 
substantially more success than if you get it at

the street level," he said. "It has a much larger ripple effect."

In the latest raid in Monterey County, the sheriff's narcotics unit 
Thursday collected 1,915 pot plants near Gorda with an estimated street 
value of $6.7 million.

On Aug. 18, local law enforcement officials performed their most productive 
eradication operations yet this year, destroying almost 7,500 plants worth 
about $37.5 million at two gardens west of the Arroyo Seco Campgrounds near 
Greenfield.

The farms raided Aug. 18 had the tell-tale signs of Mexican drug cartels, 
Dahmen said, including large crop sizes and evidence of armed guards 
prepared to stay for the entire season. The lookouts had left behind both 
bullet casings and supplies, he said.

"They've got huge resources," Dahmen said of cartels. "They're in it to 
make money - big-time money."

Added sophistication

Mexican cartels grow larger crops than local growers, typically using 
undocumented workers to guard and tend them, he said.

"What we've seen throughout the state is that these people will insert 
Mexican nationals into the growth areas to cultivate this marijuana," 
Dahmen said.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also is dealing with a swell in 
cartel-run marijuana plots in Northern California, said Casey McEnry, 
public information officer for the DEA in San Francisco.

"We are seeing an increase in Mexican criminal organizations beginning to 
take shape and form and beginning to run these marijuana groves," McEnry said.

The DEA identifies the cartels by the nationality of arrested workers and 
by the way the crops are cultivated, she said.

In Monterey County, where the Sheriff's Office eradicates about 20 
marijuana gardens each year, more and more are cultivated in the highly 
organized way characteristic of the Mexican groups.

Dahmen said he suspects cartels grow marijuana in the United States to 
avoid interception at the border, which is more likely as homeland security 
measures increase.

The sergeant described a sophisticated system of back-country harvesting 
hidden in remote locations: Armed workers camp at the sites for the summer, 
receiving packages of food at predetermined locations under the cover of 
darkness and crawling between the plants to stay invisible. They can be 
paid from $5,000 to $15,000 for a season, he said.

"They are well-financed and often armed, and they basically are in there 
for the duration," Dahmen said.

At $5,000 per plant, a cartel can make millions by using laborers to grow 
the drug.

"If they can spend $15,000 for five people and have a crop the size of 
(Thursday's), $37.5 million, there's a substantial profit margin," Dahmen said.

Even if the growers lose half of their crop, they still make a significant 
profit, he said.

The workers carve out niches in the hillsides for planting and start the 
stalks from seed, fending off wild animals and using illegal pesticides on 
the crops.

When the plants are mature, they remove the harvest by hiking out on 
trails, using pack mules or bringing in helicopters, depending on how much 
funding they have available, Dahmen said.

Well armed, financed

The gardens can pose a danger to passersby, with guards armed with weapons 
ranging from handguns to AK-47s.

"Usually what we see with these organizations is that those that are 
tending to the plants are armed and very dangerous," McEnry said.

The guards typically leave the groves when they hear law enforcement 
approaching, but a recent confrontation in Santa Clara County has led 
deputies to exercise extra caution.

During an Aug. 5 raid on a 50,000-plant garden in the open space reserve 
surrounding Mount Umunhum, a 25-year-old warden for the California 
Department of Fish and Game was shot by a single bullet that traveled 
through both of his legs, and a suspect was killed.

In Monterey County, marijuana seizures have increased since 1992, when 
federal funding enabled the creation of the County of Monterey Marijuana 
Eradication Team, now supervised by Dahmen, to address the problem 
year-round. The outdoor growing season runs from April to September or 
October, depending on weather, but crops cultivated indoors can grow 
through the winter.

For the Aug. 18 raids, COMMET teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service, the 
California State Department of Justice's Campaign Against Marijuana 
Planting, sheriff's narcotics detectives and the National Guard, seizing 
the plants and flying them out by helicopter. A full-size dump truck took 
them to an undisclosed site, where they were destroyed.

A statewide problem

Marijuana gardens are a problem statewide, with toxic pesticides polluting 
the land and armed guards posing a danger to unsuspecting hikers. CAMP has 
seized more than 4 million plants - valued at more than $16 billion - in 
its 22-year history.

In 2004, CAMP conducted raids in 30 of the state's 58 counties, assisting 
local law enforcement with equipment and personnel, said Robin Schwanke, 
spokeswoman for the California DOJ.

"The illegal gardens seized by CAMP are contaminating our water, destroying 
our land and also presenting increased risk for innocent hikers that may 
inadvertently stumble across one of these gardens that are guarded by armed 
men," Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement last month.

California's marijuana seizures are increasing year by year, a result of 
surveillance by plane coupled with larger garden sizes, the statement said.

 From 1994 to 2004, the average raid grew from roughly 400 to about 3,400 
plants. Last year, CAMP found and destroyed about $2.5 billion of the drug, 
a record achievement. And this year, this amount already has surpassed 
that, with $2.54 billion, according to the DOJ.

Schwanke said 784,272 plants have been eradicated in 128 raids this year to 
date. CAMP's raid season targets the harvest period with about four teams 
out each day.

Safety concerns for hikers

Gardens vary in size and location, but Dahmen said major cultivators often 
seek out public areas because if marijuana is found on private property the 
land can be confiscated.

That raises concerns that people hiking in remote areas may come across 
camps like these and get into dangerous situations.

"It's entirely possible," he said. "The forest is a beautiful place to 
visit, and that's why the USFS supports our efforts in trying to eradicate 
these gardens."

Dahmen said hikers who encounter marijuana patches or aggressive 
individuals in the forest should back away immediately and call 9-1-1.

But the problem is persistent and stands to increase as Mexican cartels 
take advantage of northern California's expansive parklands, which offer 
perfect conditions for the plant.

"Monterey County has an ideal climate for growing marijuana out of doors," 
Dahmen said. "We've had enforcement actions for as long as we can remember."
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman