AUTHORITIES HUNTING POT FARM GROWERS

Narcotics investigators Saturday continued working to identify the people
who planted and cultivated more than 12,000 marijuana plants on land owned
by San Mateo County and the City and County of San Francisco.

Authorities say they will have to rely on personal papers left at a camp
near the marijuana fields to track down the illegal farmers because media
attention about the largest seizure of pot in San Mateo County has ruined a
chance for police to catch suspects at the growing site.

"With all the activity out there in the past week, they're not coming back
for a while," said Don O'Keefe, commander of San Mateo County's Narcotics
Task Force.

The task force confiscated 12,313 marijuana plants with an estimated street
value of $49 million last week inside the Crystal Springs Watershed and
Hubert Park, south of Highway 92 and west of the Crystal Springs Reservoir.
The seizure concluded a months-long investigation of the site.

O'Keefe said he was confident the dozen agents who scoured the site found
all the marijuana plants in the operation. But weather permitting, the
agency will continue helicopter searches in coming days.