DEA FINDS 3RD POT FARM

About 25,000 marijuana plants were plucked from the earth and burned Tuesday
after a Drug Enforcement Agency task force uncovered the third marijuana
grove discovered recently near Black Canyon City.

Agents believe this last seizure is connected to the other two as part of
one large operation.

"This is one of the largest seizures in the history of the state, if you
take all three fields . . . that's over 50,000 plants," said Larry Hedberg,
a DEA spokesman. "We believe it's one group, one organization, and they are
all connected."

If combined, the three fields could have grossed more than $5 million a
year, Hedberg said.

And although police already have linked suspected drug kingpin Dolores
"Guero" Corrales-Hernandez to the major marijuana seizure in October, they
say it's too early to connect him to the latest bust.

In October, the task force found more than 17,000 marijuana plants in Larry
Canyon about five miles northeast of Black Canyon City. Before that, the
task force discovered another marijuana site about a mile away, but no
plants had grown yet, said Sgt. John Cometh with the Prescott-Area Narcotics
Task Force.

Since then, officers have returned to the sites to remove pipes and pull up
new plants growing from leftover seeds, Cometh said.

And Tuesday morning, officers spotted another marijuana grove between those
two sites, Cometh said.

The grove, nestled on the side of Lousy Canyon, was elaborately set up.
Cometh said it's not too difficult to grow marijuana, as long as the plants
get plenty of water and the temperature doesn't dip below freezing.

The latest grove was painstakingly set up with an elaborate irrigation
system. The ground was terraced, and sprinklers showered the plants with
water and fertilizer. Traps were even set up to catch rodents, Cometh said.

"If they would change their endeavors to doing landscape for people," Cometh
said. "I think they would make a fortune."

Police say whoever is growing the marijuana has done a good job of hiding
it. Because the country is so rough up there, even hikers won't venture to
the groves, Hedberg said.