POLICE MAKE SOLANO COUNTY'S LARGEST POT BUST

Close To 40,000 Plants Destroyed Near Lake Berryessa

A coalition of police agencies destroyed more than 23,000 marijuana
plants last week near Lake Berryessa at Cold Canyon and Wild Horse
Canyon roads in rural Solano County, northwest of Vacaville.
Authorities from one of the police agencies said they may have
destroyed closer to 40,000 plants from five different grow sites.

No matter the total number of plants, the bust was the largest
marijuana catch in Solano County history, with the plants having an
estimated street value of $117 million, according to the Solano
County Sheriff's Department.

The plants were spotted by a CHP helicopter, according to CHP
officials, as part of a continuous search of illegal marijuana farms
in rural areas by law enforcement agencies.

Duncan Jensen, the CHP helicopter pilot during the June 17 siege,
described it as a highly strategic and sophisticated operation by law
enforcement.

"We lowered them in on a 50 feet rope (wearing camouflage and) with
machetes in hand," said Jensen. "They went through and cut down and
destroyed the groves so people cannot get back in there and set it up again."

Jensen describes an elaborate irrigation system in place at the site.

"Huge pools were used to provide water as a drip system into the
groves. There were two main nurseries," said Jensen. An estimated
four-mile long irrigation system extended along the forest floor, he said.

Seven campsites were found, but growers had already fled the scene.
Solano County Sheriff's spokeswoman Paula Toynbee said no arrests
have been made.

Officials said that they saw people in the grove during the bust, but
weren't able to catch them by the time they dropped in.

Law enforcement officials from Solano County, CHP and California
Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team participated in the bust.