1,179 PLANTS SEIZED IN LATEST MARIJUANA RAID IN BACK COUNTRY

Narcotics: More Than 16,000 Have Been Found This Season. It's The Eighth
Plantation Destroyed In Five Weeks.

OJAI--Faced with a bumper crop of marijuana, a team of Ventura County
narcotics officers swept into a rugged mountain canyon Tuesday and seized
1,179 pot plants during an early morning raid.

It was the eighth pot plantation destroyed by law enforcement officials in
five weeks and brings the total number of marijuana plants cut down this
season to more than 16,000.

Those plants would be worth as much as $70 million on the street and if not
uprooted would make marijuana one of the county's top cash crops alongside
oranges and celery.

Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said there is no way to know how many
clandestine pot farms are still operating in the wilderness that covers
most of the county.

"The chances that we have it all are slim," he said.

But Brooks said helicopter crews are scanning the brush-covered hills of
the vast Los Padres National Forest on an almost daily basis in hopes of
crippling pot production and keeping marijuana off the street.

"It is a business for them," Brooks said of the deep-pocketed drug dealers
he believes are behind the pot farms. "And if you can make it less
profitable for them, then they'll either stop or go someplace else."

The pot farm raided Tuesday morning was about three miles from Reyes Creek
Campground, about 40 miles northeast of Ojai. It was discovered last week
by a low-flying helicopter crew, and raided by a team of six narcotics
officers and 10 county firefighters.

Using machetes, the team hacked down 3- to 7-foot-tall marijuana plants
growing along steep terraces in the canyon. The crop was well-irrigated
from water running through a nearby creek.

Near the pot fields, authorities found three small encampments littered
with trash, pesticides and irrigation hoses.

Although the camps were deserted and no weapons were found, Brooks said
most growers are well-armed and pose a serious threat to hikers or hunters
who may venture into the wilderness.

Officials have recovered AK-47s, shotguns and other firearms during other
raids in recent weeks, the sheriff said.

Sheriff's Capt. Mark Ritchie, who oversees narcotics investigations, said
the department has some leads on possible suspects from other raids, but no
arrests have been made this season.

Catching pot growers is difficult, because they typically hear patrolling
law enforcement helicopters and flee into the wilderness--perhaps days
before officers land in the area, Ritchie said.

Marijuana is typically planted in the spring and harvested in September.
This year, prime growing conditions are yielding a bumper crop that could
be highly profitable for dealers if it hits the streets.

Brooks estimated that the 16,000 plants seized so far this season would be
worth between $30 million and $70 million, putting marijuana in the top
echelon of county crops.

According to the current crop report, $70 million would rank after $220
million for top-valued strawberries, $201 million for lemons, $139 million
for nursery stock and $113 for celery, according to Deputy Agriculture
Commissioner Alan Laird.

"It actually has more value than avocados and is right in there with
Valencia oranges," he said.

The single largest eradication of Ventura County marijuana farms occurred
during the summer and fall of 1996, when authorities uprooted 23,000
plants. With long, warm days and ample water in the forest, Ritchie said
this could also be a record year for seizures.

Last week, law enforcement officials netted 5,000 plants over a two-day
period after finding a farm in the Tule Creek area. Like Tuesday's raid,
authorities found evidence of sophisticated irrigation systems diverting
water from creeks.

Authorities plan to fingerprint some of the items seized during those raids
and hope that evidence will lead them to growers as well as the drug
dealers they suspect are employing them.

"We hope there are none we have missed," Ritchie said of the back-country
pot farms. "We really put a lot of effort into it."