TASK FORCES SEIZES MARIJUANA PLANTS

WARNER SPRINGS -A joint task force seized millions of dollars in
marijuana near this rural community north of Julian early Monday
morning, an official with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement said.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, along with Customs,
participated in the removal of about 10,000 marijuana plants with a
street value of between $3 million and $6 million, Customs spokeswoman
Loren Mack said Monday.

The seizure was part of operation Help Eradicate Marijuana Production,
Mack said.

About 4:30 a.m. Monday, the agents arrived at the marijuana garden and
secured the area, she said. No arrests were made, however a growers'
camp was found that appeared to have been recently vacated, Mack said.

Customs "provided support and back-up surveillance using the
(Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Black Hawk helicopter," she said.

The task force is finding these marijuana gardens all along this area
in the San Jacinto Mountain Range, Mack said.

"In the last year, as part of our work with the task force, we
eradicated between 80,000 to 90,000 plants," she said.

The plants found Monday were removed using a sling-style net dropped
down from a helicopter and will be destroyed, she said.