$13 MILLION OF POT SEIZED IN SHASTA COUNTY

WHITMORE, Calif. (AP) -- Authorities seized 5,000 marijuana plants valued
at $13 million and arrested three men in the largest bust of the year in
Shasta County.

Authorities were searching Friday for two men and a woman who were
suspected of running the operation.

Investigators said a home was searched Thursday in nearby Humboldt County
belonging to the owner of the Shasta County pot farm. Processed marijuana,
$12,000 and 17 weapons were seized, according to the Shasta County
sheriff's department.

Three immigrant workers from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico were taken
into custody on felony drug and weapons charges: Fernando Cano Castillo,
29; Jose Aguilar Martinez, 46; and Jorge Antonio Juchin, 23.

The men, who spoke no English and had never left the farm, had been hired
to tend the 900-acre marijuana farm in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada,
said Lt. Harry Bishop of the Shasta County Sheriff's department.

Sheriff's deputies tore up the budding, well-tended plants -- some as tall
as a basketball hoop -- weighing more than two tons.

The isolated farm was well-concealed by a thick canopy of trees and bushes,
making it difficult to detect from the air, Bishop said.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan