Sheriff’s deputies and other law-enforcement agents uprooted
16,800 mature marijuana plants from farms in the Los Padres
National Forest in Santa Barbara County during a two-week
search-and-destroy campaign ending last week. No arrests were made,
but Sheriff’s Sgt. Erik Raney said it appeared that Mexican
nationals had camped at the farms and tended them. The plants were
at six separate “grows,” including four grows on Broadcast Peak.
The largest single grow was at El Capitan, where the officers found
6,200 plants. The Drug Enforcement Administration estimated the
plants’ retail value at $6,720,000.
