AGENTS DESTROY VAST POT FARM

Plant by lush, leafy plant, DEA agents destroyed seven marijuana fields
hidden in the Dell Canyon area in eastern Salt Lake County on Thursday. If
harvested, the crop would have produced more than two tons of the illegal drug.

Then the agents found even more plants before calling it a night.

Salt Lake County's largest drug haul has been two months in the making. The
Drug Enforcement Administration and the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office
kept tabs on four fields at first. The officers planned to wait until the
pot growers harvested the plants before making arrests, but with the state
bow hunt starting Saturday, officials moved in early.

"We didn't want any armed confrontation with marijuana growers," said
sheriff's deputy Peggy Faulkner. Officers also were worried that hunters
might walk into booby traps.

Officers found no traps, but they did find more marijuana fields. They
located a fifth planting in Clear Creek Canyon and two other fields in
nearby Hatch's Canyon. They found at least one other field before ending
their day's work. Officers plan to start destroying that marijuana early today.

Hikers had tipped off the sheriff's office, which posted deputies to watch
the plants grow from small seedlings to a height of 4 or 5 feet. They saw
several people take care of the fields, which were planted on Bureau of
Land Management property. No suspects were arrested on Thursday, but
Faulkner said the investigation is ongoing and those who are caught will
face federal charges.

Camouflaged DEA agents made the one-hour hike into the remote canyon at 6
a.m. to dig up the plants and root systems. They wrapped nearly 2,000
plants into bundles of 10 and walked them to an area where a Utah Highway
Patrol helicopter could pick them up. The agents also removed tarps and
hundreds of feet of irrigation piping run from nearby streams. Camping
supplies were found and the agents believe the marijuana growers rarely
left the area.

The marijuana was lifted to the parking lot of Little Dell Reservoir,
loaded into an unmarked van and taken to an undisclosed location for burning.

More than 25 law enforcement officers worked on the bust.