MORE THAN $12 MILLION IN POT SEIZED, BURNED

BERRY CREEK -- More than 3,000 marijuana plants with an estimated
street value of more than $12 million were seized in Berry Creek Tuesday.

A reconnaissance flight by the Butte County sheriff's helicopter
located the garden in a remote area near Mosquito Creek. Five deputies
from the Marijuana Suppression Unit made a 21Z2-hour early morning
hike into the area. They were joined by Fish and Game and Forest
Service employees, who assisted in pulling up the plants.

It took about nine hours total to hike into the area, uproot the 3,200
plants, and have them hauled out by the Sheriff's Office helicopter,
which ferried the bundles in nets about a half-mile to an awaiting
trailer, Sgt. Steve Collins said.

"The hiking was the hard part, and the helicopter really helped a
lot," Collins said. It was rugged terrain, and at times, deputies had
to slide down slopes or crawl over rocks.

The garden was being watered by a gravity-fed drip system using black
plastic pipe coming from a nearby creek.

It took about two hours to burn the seized marijuana on the Sheriff's
Office compound Tuesday afternoon. An additional 200 marijuana plants
previously confiscated also went up in flames.

"We have these burns on a regular basis, and knew we were going to
have a lot to burn today, so we decided to burn it all together at one
time," Collins said.

An old garbage bin held the burning marijuana, which deputies kept fed
with more bundles. The pungent odor and smoke filled the air.

The burn had been approved by air quality officials.

"The estimated average street value for a pound of processed marijuana
is about $4,000, so about $12,800,000 is a conservative estimate of
the marijuana burned," Collins added.

Collins said anyone comes across suspicious activity associated with
illegal marijuana gardens while riding or hiking should leave the area
immediately and call the Marijuana Suppression Unit's report line at
538-7389.