Pubdate: Fri, 24 Sept 1999
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center
Contact:  http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Dale Rodebaugh, Mercury News Staff Writer

2 MORE POT GARDENS FOUND, ERADICATED

Part Of Busted San Benito County Operation

A week after they concluded the biggest marijuana bust in state
history, drug agents were in south San Benito County on Thursday
uprooting plants in the same area.

In fact, said Bob Cooke, commander of the state attorney general's
local narcotics team, some of the plants taken were from the same
operation the task force uncovered last week.

The earlier operation -- which turned up 48,000 top-quality sinsemilla
plants worth an estimated $96 million wholesale -- also netted 10
suspects. They are in San Benito County Jail charged with conspiracy
to cultivate marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale. All the
suspects have addresses in Madera.

Agents were uprooting marijuana plants in two gardens Thursday, Cooke
said. He estimated there were more than 2,000 plants in each garden.

No one had counted the plants as of Thursday afternoon, Cooke
said.

The two gardens where the marijuana was found this week are about 10
miles apart and about 20 miles from the scene of last week's raid near
San Benito Mountain, Cooke said.

Cooke said three or four people were cultivating marijuana in the
area, judging from evidence. He said they were camping in the area and
were using water from Clear Creek to irrigate the plants.

Investigators saw people in the area Tuesday and found several hundred
stripped marijuana plants on the ground, Cooke said. When the agents
returned to the area Wednesday about noon, they found the marijuana
gone, he said.

Marijuana is harvested in September and October.

The area where the marijuana is being grown is extremely remote and in
the midst of mountains cut by deep canyons.

Cooke is commander of the United Narcotic Enforcement Team, which
includes law enforcement officers from South Santa Clara County and
San Benito County. Agents from the state attorney general's Campaign
Against Marijuana Planting also participated in this weeks's operation.

Dale Rodebaugh covers Morgan Hill, agricultural issues and public
safety in San Benito County.
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