SAN BENITO POT BUST VALUED AT $30 MILLION

Drug team: Six men are arrested in a remote area under surveillance.

About 25 drug officers had confiscated more than 15,000 marijuana plants
from a remote canyon in southern San Benito County by late Friday in one of
the largest pot busts in county history, Sheriff Curtis Hill said.

Six men have been arrested, Hill said.

With an estimated street value of $2,000 per plant, the haul is worth more
than $30 million.

Ninety-degree heat and extremely steep terrain slowed agents who began
cutting marijuana plants Friday along each side of Cantua Creek at the base
of 5,248-foot San Benito Mountain, Hill said.

The area, one of the most remote spots in a largely rural county, is 50
miles by air south of Hollister, 54 miles from Paso Robles in San Luis
Obispo County and 55 miles from Fresno. Access by secondary roads makes the
trip half again as long.

Sighting near plantation

Hunters told authorities on Aug. 15 that they had seen a group of men near a
marijuana plantation near San Benito Mountain, Hill said.

The area was put under surveillance for three weeks, during which armed men
could be seen coming and going from the area, Hill said. Part of the group,
he said, appeared to remain in the area along the creek to tend the
marijuana plants, which normally would be harvested this month and next.

Wednesday evening, five men approached the site in a vehicle with food and
tools, authorities said, and one was carrying a loaded .38-caliber revolver.
The five were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cultivate marijuana and
possession of marijuana for sale.

None of them carried identification. The men, who said they were from
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; and Juan Jose Garcia, 32.

Man arrested

The next morning, agents arrested Miguel Angel Gutierrez Alvarez, 23, who
officers said was on guard at the marijuana plantation with a shotgun.
Another man fled into the underbrush.

Agents from the United Narcotic Enforcement Team and members of the
Department of Justice's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting participated in
the raid. 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.

Dale Rodebaugh covers Morgan Hill, agricultural issues and public safety in
San Benito County. Contact him at drodebaugh@sjmercury.com or (408)
847-1617.