SHOTS TRADED AT POT FARM

No Injuries Reported; 5,800 Plants Valued At $20 Million Seized

Two Monterey County sheriff's narcotics detectives scouting a web of
hillside trails south of Salinas early Monday surprised a suspected
marijuana grower and exchanged shots with him. No one was injured.

The shooter and others fled in the dark. At daylight, authorities
moved in and harvested 5,800 big sinsemilla plants. Using $5,000 per
dried pound as a rule of thumb, the narcotics officers estimated the
street value of what they seized at about $20 million.

In addition to the .22-caliber pistol that the suspected grower
dropped as he fled, officers found two .38s and a shotgun, Sgt. James
Scariot said.

Sgt. Douglas Dahmen, who investigated the shooting incident, described
the marijuana farm as a series of perhaps six linked gardens -- a
commercial operation, he said, of the type often found in remote
sections of public land, such as state parks or national forests.

This farm, however, was on private land between Toro Regional Park and
River Road. ``Very steep, oak and manzanita, that type of thing,''
Dahmen said.

From the tents and food found at the site, it is assumed the marijuana
farmers were planning to stay until harvest time, which in eastern
Monterey County probably would be late August or early September.
Growing sinsemilla, experts say, requires diligent and scientific pruning.

The haul of marijuana was not a record, Dahmen said. In 2002, drug
agents seized about 8,000 plants valued at $32 million near Hollister.