Those could be the words of just about any rural county Sheriff in California. It wouldn't be the first time we heard it.
The proliferation of such growing operations is destroying ecosystems and scaring hikers away, an official says.
Melinda Haag, U.S. attorney for Northern California, also stated, "Visitors to the forest are increasingly intimidated by the prospect of armed drug traffickers and illegal cultivation sites. ....I've warned people who come up here during the summer to be careful when they go hiking."
More than 460,000 pot plants were destroyed and 101 people arrested in the raids in and around the Mendocino National Forest.
The latest effort, dubbed Operation Full Court Press, targeted 56 growing sites. Authorities seized 27 guns and 11 vehicles, Haag said.
The operation also confiscated fertilizers, chemical pesticides and rat poison. With the aid of the U.S. Forest Service, 23 tons of trash and 22 miles of irrigation pipe were removed; 13 man-made dams remain to be dismantled.
These aren't your 'garden variety' hippie growing a few plants for their personal satisfaction. They are operated by Mexican drug cartels aided by the illegal alien invasion. And they are armed, more than likely, by our own scandalous Department of Justice's Fast and Furious Mexican cartel gun running.
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More News today on this!
Southern Utah, mostly its public lands, is plagued with Mexican nationals setting up outdoor marijuana growing operations.
A federal magistrate set an Oct. 11 trial date for 21 defendants who police say were involved in a large marijuana growing operation near St. George.
All but one of the suspects arraigned Monday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City are Mexican nationals, said Paul Kohler, an assistant U.S. attorney.
The 21st defendant is a legal permanent resident and has a detention hearing set for Wednesday. (OUR LEGAL immigration system is just as broken!!...this one was probably allowed in on an 'agricultural visa!)Sue Thomas, a supervisory special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Salt Lake City, said the suspects are hired and paid by Mexican drug trafficking organizations and thus are "part of them." She said all of the large-scale operations federal authorities have seen in southern Utah the past two years have been controlled by Mexican drug trafficking organizations. [snip]
The Cartels control Oregon too!
Douglas County woods carry large marijuana grows
Area residents urged to be cautious when out in the wilderness, especially in summer
Whoa! I never thought that it there are lots of drug traffickers in that area. We plan to hike there last summer but I'm glad now that we didn't make it when I heard about this
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