TASK FORCE SEIZES 3,000 POT PLANTS

A drug task force on Wednesday seized more than 3,000 marijuana
plants that were grown in sophisticated indoor operations,
authorities said.

Three people were arrested on suspicion of cultivating and conspiring
to distribute marijuana. Authorities contend that they were part of a
six-year operation that rented pot-growing space in Los Angeles,
Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Authorities found 2,000 plants at a home in Riverside and 1,000
plants at a home in nearby Hesperia, according to a written statement
from the Inland Crackdown Allied Task Force.

An additional 500 plants that were being dried and processed for
future sales were discovered in Downey in Los Angeles County.

The combined marijuana was worth an estimated $3.5 million on the street.

The Riverside home on Pick Place was filled with green plastic pots,
each containing a foot-high marijuana plant. Investigators lugged
hundreds out.

The Hesperia home, on a barren lot, was lined with aluminum to create
a giant greenhouse.