ANOTHER 2,600 POT PLANTS UPROOTED

Tuolumne County Sheriff's narcotics officers yesterday netted another 2,661
marijuana plants in an on-going operation to uproot marijuana crops in the
region.

In just three days, narcotics officers have destroyed more than 10,000
marijuana plants growing on public lands in Tuolumne County. The growers
are all believed to work for large, organized drug cartels that traffic
marijuana and methamphetamine, said Sgt. Jim Mele, head of the Tuolumne
County Narcotics Enforcement Team.

Monday, county and state law enforcement officers uprooted 5,434 plants
near Groveland. Tuesday, another 2,000 plants were netted near Moccasin.

Yesterday, 2,661 plants were found and destroyed on land in the Stanislaus
National Forest, 15 miles east of Tuolumne.

The 10,095 plants are about a third the total number of marijuana plants
destroyed in Tuolumne County in all of 2004.

None of the growers who were living at and tending the three marijuana
gardens were around when the raids took place.

The growers left behind piles of trash, irrigation drip lines and
fertilizer, along with camping and personal gear, Mele said. Officers
photographed all the camp sites and retained some of the gear as evidence
for a possible prosecution.

The marijuana was cut, hauled out, chipped up and burned.

Mele said the gardens were all spotted from the air earlier in the summer
and tagged for eradication when the Sheriff's Department could get help in
the form of agents and helicopters from the state Bureau of Narcotics'
Campaign Against Marijuana Planting.

CAMP agents travel the state and work with county law enforcement officers
to cut and haul out the marijuana plants.