BUST COULD NET 50,000 PLANTS

A marijuana eradication effort begun Friday in a remote canyon in
southern San Benito County could turn out to be the second largest
marijuana bust ever in California, a state Department of Justice
spokesman said.

The growing operation could produce as many as 50,000 plants, Sheriff
Curtis Hill said Monday.

``It's very, very big. They won't finish tomorrow afternoon,'' Hill
said.

Drug enforcement agents had reported finding 15,000 plants on Friday.
The number of suspects arrested also has jumped -- from six to 10,
Hill said.

Early estimates of the extent of the marijuana growing operation in
the shadow of San Benito Mountain fell far short of reality, as new
growing areas turned up over the weekend, Hill said.

``Every time they looked up a canyon, they found another growing
area,'' Hill said.

The operation is typical of what law enforcement says is an increasing
trend toward larger and larger crops.

Agents destroyed more than 25,000 marijuana plants over the weekend
but said it appears that there are that many more growing in
hard-to-reach canyons.

Officials estimated the street value of marijuana at $2,000 per plant.
A crop of 50,000 plants would be worth $100 million.

But Mark Garcia, a Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department drug
officer, who was not a part of the raid, said officials tend to
underestimate the value of marijuana. Garcia said the application of
the latest agricultural practices has allowed marijuana growers in the
past three or four years to develop plants that produce two pounds
instead of one, with a value of $4,000 to $8,000 a pound.

Remote location

In the San Benito County bust, the first plants were found along
either side of Cantua Creek near the base of 5,248-foot San Benito
Mountain. The area is one of the most remote spots in a county where
many points can be reached only over unpaved roads, by helicopter or
on foot.

Twenty-five to 30 agents Monday were harvesting the Cantua Creek
marijuana, which will be buried on Bureau of Land Management property.
The agency administers the land where the marijuana was found.

The bust was important enough to bring Walter I. Johnson Jr., chief of
law enforcement for the Bureau of Land Management, to the scene where
two helicopters were ferrying marijuana from the gardens to the
command post about 1 1/2 miles away.

Hunters alerted authorities to the marijuana operation in the middle
of August. Surveillance of the area revealed armed men coming and
going. Part of the group appeared to remain in the area to tend the
plants and guard against intruders.

September and October constitute the traditional harvest season for
marijuana.

Five men were arrested Wednesday evening as they approached the site
in a vehicle carrying food and tools. The following morning, agents
arrested a shotgun-bearing man at the harvest site. A second suspect
fled into the underbrush.

The suspects, who have addresses in Madera, were taken to San Benito
County Jail, where they were fingerprinted. They were identified as
Higinio Montes, 27; Jose Rodrigues, 48; Sergio Montes, 25; Fernando
Hernandez, 30; Juan Jose Garcia, 32; and Miguel Angel Gutierrez
Alvarez, 23.

Three more suspects were arrested late Friday when they arrived at the
garden site. On Saturday morning, the suspect who had fled into the
hills Thursday surrendered, tired, dehydrated and hungry, Hill said.

The latest suspects are Alejandro Sandoval, 22; Jesus Mendoza, 27:
Abelardo Alvarez, 23; and Antonio Mendoza, 18.

Agents from the state Campaign Against Marijuana Planting have
conducted 144 raids in Northern California and confiscated nearly
100,000 plants since Aug. 2, according to Department of Justice
spokesman Mike Van Winkle.

The value of the plants is estimated at $391 million, Van Winkle
said.

The largest marijuana bust in California occurred in Glenn County
about 15 years ago when agents took out 60,000 plants, he said.

Larger operations

Raids are turning up increasingly larger marijuana plantations, he
said. Improved cultivation methods, larger gardens and the takeover of
marijuana cultivation by drug cartels have contributed to the larger
operations, he said.

In 1993, agents confiscated only 66,000 marijuana plants in the entire
year, Van Winkle said.

In Santa Clara County, agents on Aug. 23 raided a pot farm off Pacheco
Pass Highway, confiscating 8,700 plants. Garcia estimated the value at
$72 million.

United Narcotic Enforcement Team and members of the Campaign Against
Marijuana Planting are participating in the San Benito County
operation. The narcotics enforcement team is composed of officers from
the Morgan Hill and Hollister police departments, the California
Highway Patrol, the San Benito County Sheriff's Department and the
state Attorney General's Office. Members of the California National
Guard are helping, too.