POT PLANTS ERADICATED

About 35,670 marijuana plants with a street value of $1 million have
been eradicated during a three-day countywide operation that ended
Thursday, according to the Napa Special Investigations Bureau.

Agents removed the plants from state, federal and private properties
including remote locations in Snell Valley, Cedar Roughs near Pope
Creek, Mt. Veeder Road and Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, said
Gary Pitkin, Napa Special Investigations Bureau's commander.

None of the private property owners are suspects, Pitkin
stressed.

Officers with the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, a statewide
multi-agency task force, and the Napa Special Investigations Bureau,
joined forces for the operation, according to the bureau.

The agents working on Mount Veeder also found ammunition for .357
handguns and a lit candle to Jesus Malverde, the patron saint of
Mexican drug traffickers, Pitkin said.

Drug agents have eradicated more than 50,000 plants three weeks into
the 2010 marijuana growing season, Pitkin said. In 2009, agents found
85,000 plants.

"It's going to be a crazy year," Pitkin said.

The marijuana growing season usually ends in September, but this
season started late because of spring rain.