ANGELES FOREST YIELDS RECORD MARIJUANA SEIZURES

Bigger Harvest, More Sophisticated Operations Predicted This Year

A record 111,000 marijuana plants were seized last year from the Angeles
and Los Padres national forests, and authorities are bracing for what they
say could be an even bigger harvest this year.

More than 6,600 plants valued at more than $16 million were found last
month in two gardens northeast of La Canada-Flintridge, and officials
expect to find similar, sophisticated operations in the coming months.

"There is a significant quantity of marijuana in the national forests
throughout Southern California," said Kathy Good, a spokeswoman for the Los
Padres National Forest. "We will be quite active in the next few months in
detection and eradication."

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confiscated 84,000 plants last
year on federal land, with Ventura County officials uncovering 27,000 plants.

"Last year, we had a record season the world's record for Los Angeles
County." said Sgt. Robert Mueller, who heads the Marijuana Task Force for
the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Along with the large finds, last year produced a high number of arrests:
nearly two dozen people believed to be members of a Tijuana drug cartel
were arrested following a yearlong, multi-agency investigation.

"It was a large group involved in numerous cultivations in numerous
counties," said Sgt. Bob Garcia, of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department
Narcotics Unit. "Based on their sophistication, that was no first-time deal."

Most of the 22 suspects have pleaded guilty to federal charges of
cultivating of marijuana and are awaiting sentencing, Garcia added.

The arrests, which took place in Oxnard and throughout the Valley, also
netted weapons including 50 assault rifles and handguns with silencers nine
vehicles and $85,000 cash.

Authorities say the same amount of marijuana is grown in forest land
typically between April to October of each year, but that the cultivators
are becoming increasingly sophisticated in concealing their operation.

"They use more and more remote locations that you and I would not think
of," said Garcia, adding that the cultivators cut their own paths through
the thick forest areas and transport their supplies and irrigation
equipment with them. "It's a tremendous amount of physical labor."

In the operation uncovered last month, for example, officials said that all
the foliage on the 30-acre site had been chopped down to make room for the
marijuana crop.

Besides using remote locations, officials said, cultivators hang camouflage
netting and natural vegetation over their crop to conceal it from routine
flyovers. The suspects themselves even wear camouflage clothing and paint
their faces to blend into the forest and avoid detection.

And for months at a time, officials said, suspects will set up camp in the
forest, living off the land and killing wildlife as the marijuana grows.

"Every year I see more and more weapons," Garcia said. "I've been at
cultivations were they've had deer and bear skin and found calendars that
go on for months."

With both water and sunlight needed to grow marijuana, cultivators will
typically plant their gardens near a creek or other water source or run
underground water lines.

Last year, officials located two gardens which had tapped into water lines
one from a campground, the other from a private business. As part of their
operation, cultivators had also set up irrigation timers similar to a
residential sprinkler system.

"We kept wondering how they were getting their water," Garcia said. "Then
we dug up their underground water line and timer. They didn't even have to
be there."

Although their procedures are kept confidential, officials said that they
will routinely conduct helicopter flyovers to look for possible
cultivations and work in conjunction with state and federal organizations
to locate and eradicate gardens.

But while they may find the gardens, it's rare that they come across the
cultivators. Those who are sent to tend to their marijuana farms will
abandon their plants, weapons and supplies once they hear authorities
coming their way.

"There is no way for us to approach these things quietly," said Garcia,
adding that like the cultivators they also must cut their own path through
the forest. "It's very difficult."