Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2007
Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA)
Copyright: 2007 Record Searchlight
Contact:  http://www.redding.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/360
Author: Dylan Darling

NORTH STATE OFFICERS WATCH FOR RISE IN POT DISTRIBUTION

'Tis the season for north state marijuana growers to  smuggle their
illegal crop south.

"The harvest is done, they've dried their product and  it's on the
move," said Kurt Heuer, spokesman for the  California Highway Patrol
in Redding.

As officers cope with increased holiday traffic, they  are on the
lookout for people who could be carrying  drugs or large amounts of
money for dealers, Heuer  said.

"Usually the dope is going south and the money is  coming north," he
said.

There can be as many as 2,200 vehicles traveling across  the Pit River
bridge on the Sunday after Thanksgiving,  compared with the 800 to 900
vehicles on a typical  November day, according to the state Department
of  Transportation.

Heuer and other law enforcement officers were  tight-lipped about what
they might be looking for in  the rush of cars to tip them off to smugglers.

But he did say marijuana can be hard to hide because of  its bulky
size compared to other illegal drugs, and its  pungent, tell-tale scent.

In searching for smugglers, the CHP and other agencies  often call on
the help of drug-sniffing dogs whose  noses can pick up the smell even
when people can't,  Heuer said.

Often smugglers will use hidden compartments and other  tricks in case
they are pulled over.

"They go through a lot of pains to hide it in vehicles  to smuggle,"
said Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko.

Some smugglers aren't so cautious, stuffing the pot in  trash bags
before piling it into their trunks and  hoping they won't get caught,
Heuer said.

To search a car or truck, law enforcement officers  either need
probable cause -- which can be the skunky  smell of pot -- or consent
from the driver, he said.

And that's usually received after a vehicle has been  pulled over for
speeding, having faulty equipment or  another reason.

"You have to have a reason to stop it," said Susan  Gravenkamp,
spokeswoman for the Siskiyou County  sheriff's office.

U.S. Forest Rangers and state game wardens also keep an  eye out for
suspicious activity in the north state  backcountry while checking on
hunters.

Law enforcement officials said they didn't have  statistics available
for how many busts occur each year  in the north state, but they all
agreed that Interstate  5 is a major drug trafficking corridor.

Thanks to an all-out blitz on illicit marijuana  plantations dotting
public land in Shasta County this  summer, there could be less pot
being moved out of the  north state, Bosenko said.

During the three-week Operation Alesia in July, his  office joined
with 16 other agencies to raid 60  gardens, uprooting more than
283,000 pot plants in the  process. The surge helped make for a record
year of  marijuana eradication, with more than 365,000 plants  pulled
out of Shasta County soil.

"I think it had a major impact on marijuana coming from  Shasta
County," Bosenko said.

While a recent federal Department of Justice report  says such efforts
could push pot growers into starting  indoor operations, Sgt. Todd
Larson of the Shasta  County sheriff's office's marijuana eradication
team  said that hasn't been the case in Shasta County.

"We haven't seen them going indoors at all," he said.

The true impact of Operation Alesia won't be gauged  until next
growing season, when law enforcement  officials can assess whether
there are more or fewer  gardens in Shasta County.

But the pot now being smuggled through the north state  doesn't just
come from the nearby hills. Crops from  coastal counties, Oregon,
Washington and even Canada's  British Columbia, pass through on their
way to the San  Francisco Bay area and Southern California's
population  centers, Heuer said.

The stream of illegal drugs isn't limited to pot,  although the amount
of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin  and other drugs doesn't spike
this time of year because  of a harvest like marijuana's, Heuer said.

"We are looking for all the drugs, all the time," he  said.
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