EYE-OPENING HAUL: $32 MILLION

Two dozen narcotics officers descended on a remote canyon in southeastern
Santa Clara County on Monday, nipping in the bud one of the most
sophisticated marijuana-growing operations agents had seen in ages.

"It was pretty impressive," said Santa Clara County sheriff's Sgt. Luther Pugh.

The bust, which netted about $32 million worth of marijuana, was the second
largest in Santa Clara County history, he said.

No one was apprehended. But evidence found at the camps -- sleeping bags and
food -- indicate that probably a half-dozen individuals were involved in the
cultivation, said Bob Cooke, supervisor of United Narcotic Enforcement Team,
composed of law enforcement officers from south Santa Clara and San Benito
counties.

Officers from three agencies confiscated about 8,000 marijuana plants worth
$4,000 each, Cooke said. Some of the plants were 11 feet tall.

"It was the best grow I've seen in maybe 15 years, with respect to size,
quality and value of the plants," he said.

Agents cut the marijuana plants Monday and loaded them, 300 to 600 pounds at
a time, into a sling lowered from a helicopter. From there, they were taken
to the road and loaded in a 2 1/2-ton truck, Cooke said. The plants
eventually will be burned.

"Judging from the dryness of the earth around the plants, they (growers)
probably had not been there in four days," he said.

The county's largest marijuana bust occurred just under a year ago when a
task force confiscated 21,000 pot plants growing in a canyon near Calaveras
Reservoir on the border of Santa Clara and Alameda counties, Pugh said.

The value of those plants was around $84 million, he said.

An anonymous caller tipped agents to the operation raided Monday. It is in
the back country about five miles west of Pacheco Pass Highway beyond the
Casa de Fruta roadside recreation area, Cooke said.

What looked from a small plane like about 2,000 marijuana plants proved to
be an elaborate cultivation system consisting of a couple of gardens
covering five or six acres, Cooke said.

There was a large base camp near the gardens at the bottom of the ravine and
several smaller campsites on the ridges above, apparently to allow the
cultivators to spot intruders, Cooke said.

The camps consisted of tents or lean-tos camouflaged to make it difficult to
spot them from the air, he said. The marijuana growers pumped water from a
small stream into a plastic wading pool near their main camp. They used
hundreds of feet of hose to fill earthen basins about 18 inches in diameter
in which two to four plants grew.

The plants, Cooke said, were 5 to 11 feet tall with stalks 1 to 2 1/2 inches
in diameter. All male plants had been eradicated, leaving only the females,
whose flowering bud produces the most tetrahydrocannabinol, the substance
that produces a high when smoked.

"The plants remaining were well-tended, with all the `shake,' the leaves,
trimmed back," Cooke said.

All personal articles as well as food, irrigation equipment and fertilizer
had to have been carried into the ravine on foot, officials said. The
marijuana growing operation is about a mile over rugged terrain off an
unpaved road that is a back way into Henry W. Coe State Park. But entry to
the road is three to four miles away and blocked by a locked gate, a half
mile from Pacheco Pass Highway. The road is accessible only to cattle
ranchers with a key.

The road also provides access to Coe Park one weekend each spring when the
state Parks and Recreation Department opens the backcountry to visitors.
Otherwise, the area is accessible only to backpackers who hike across the
park from Morgan Hill.

The marijuana, probably planted in March, would have been harvested for
about a month starting in mid-September, Cooke said. At this time of year,
he said, the plants could grow four to six inches a day with proper
fertilization and irrigation.

Authorities have a couple of leads on suspects, Cooke said, but he was not
ready to say more Monday. In addition to UNET and the Santa Clara County
Sheriff's Department, agents from the state attorney general's Campaign
Against Marijuana Planting took part in the raid Monday.

Dale Rodebaugh covers Morgan Hill, agricultural issues and public safety in
San Benito County. Contact him at drodebaugh@sjmercury.com, (408) 847-1617
or by fax, (408) 847-2282.