The Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team found more than 4,000
marijuana plants with a possible street value of over $4 million
growing in a creek bed in the New Idria area on Friday.
The Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team found more than 4,000 marijuana plants with a possible street value of over $4 million growing in a creek bed in the New Idria area on Friday.
UNET agents were tipped off last year that an area near New Idria was being used to grow marijuana plants but were unable to make any busts, said sheriff Lt. Pat Turturici. On Friday, they were more successful.
“They went this year and found a growth again,” he said.
When three agents entered the gardens in the New Idria Ranch, they found four men tending them, but were unable to arrest them because they immediately fled, according to a department-issued statement.
The 4,231 plants were in five separate gardens and were between three and five feet tall, Turturici said.
When cultivated, each plant can produce up to one pound of marijuana, according to the statement.
The plants can grow to between 12 and 16 feet tall, but growers are trying to keep them shorter so they won’t be detected by police searching for gardens by airplane, Turturici said.
“They were close to being mature, but usable,” he said.
The agents confiscated the plants and have them in evidence at the UNET office, Turturici said.
With only a couple months to go in the marijuana-growing season, police said they have made two major busts in the county, netting over 6,000 plants with a street value of nearly $6 million.
The growing season usually starts around March or April and goes through October, but depending on the weather it could last longer, Turturici said.
Last year, only one major bust of about 3,000 plants was made by UNET agents, he said. But it was located in Fresno County and San Benito County law enforcement assisted, he said.
“(Agents) have been able to get more air time this year, which produces more spotting,” he said.
Several weeks ago UNET made another bust near the Pacheco Creek Reservoir of over 2,000 immature plants. The person cultivating and living in the gardens was arrested for felony marijuana cultivation.
If no one is arrested in connection with the gardens in New Idria after about a year, the plants are weighed, photographed and destroyed, Turturici said.
If a suspect is arrested and charged, the plants are kept in evidence until the court proceeding is finished, then destroyed.
Law enforcement has different ways of destroying the plants, including burning them or burying them.
Anyone with information about the bust at the New Idria Ranch can contact the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department at (831) 636-4080.
