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Lieutenant Jim Betts, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, is happy with the results of Tuesday’s interdiction operation.
“Six tons of marijuana with a street value of $125 million — not bad, not bad at all,” Betts said. Coupled with last week’s operation up around Ruch, Ore., Siskiyou and Jackson County law enforcement believe that they have delivered a crippling blow to such criminal operations.
“Are these marijuana fields cartel-related? I’m 90 percent sure,” Betts said.
SCSO Sergeant Mike Gilley, who heads the Marijuana Eradication Unit, said the investigation into the large marijuana cultivation operation in the Maple Gulch area of White Cloud Mountain near Horse Creek in Siskiyou County began this spring.
Both aerial and ground reconnaissance of the gardens by Marijuana Eradication Unit detectives continued through the summer.
At about 4 a.m. on Tuesday, under Betts’ command, over 100 local, state and federal law enforcement officers briefed in Yreka and then headed down Highway 96 to begin the operation.
Members of Siskiyou and Jackson Special Response Teams were the first to enter the cultivation area. They flushed out a numerous of suspects who fled into the brush and heavily wooded steep terrain.
The SRTs checked the campsites and the gardens. Once the area was secure, the eradication process began.
More than six tons of marijuana valued at $125 million were confiscateds.
The operation continued through Wednesday morning, with over 19,000 marijuana plants being taken from the Maple Gulch area.
The operation moved up Highway 96 a few miles to the Barkhouse Creek area on the south side of the Klamath River where another 6,000 marijuana plants were taken from a cultivation operation planted among manzanita.
No suspects were found in the Barkhouse Creek operation but evidence that someone had recently been in the garden was found.
“The FBI is working with us,” Betts said. “We’re just getting started. We’ll be out there, hunting down these gardens until it starts snowing.”
Reserve deputy sheriff and owner of Northern Siskiyou Ambulance, Darrell Frost, remained on-scene during the operation to provide any needed medical assistance.
Helicopters from the California Highway Patrol and Brim Aviation in Ashland, Oregon provided essential services both days.
The CHP helicopter performed aerial reconnaissance flights and was on hand to medically evacuate personnel if necessary. The helicopters also short-hauled the officers into the gardens and hauled the harvested plants to the command post area.
Volunteers of the Siskiyou County Search and Rescue Unit provided essential communication services during the operations. Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Senior Chaplain Keith Bradley set up a kitchen and, together with several volunteers, worked both days to provide food to the law enforcement personnel working on the eradication operations.
Thursday at about 8 a.m., officers of the California Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle traveling east on Highway 96 near Collier’s Rest Area north of Yreka.
A short time later, the Sheriff’s Office received several calls reporting two Hispanic males walking east along Highway 96 near Quigley’s Store in the community of Klamath River.
According to a SCSO press release, all seven men were found to be Mexican nationals with no documentation other than Mexican drivers licenses.
The seven men were detained. and booked into Siskiyou County Jail on immigration holds.
Officials of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency have been notified of the immigration holds.
It is suspected that both cultivation operations are connected to an international Mexican drug cartel.
If the men prove to have no cartel links, deportation will follow. However, if links to a cartel can be proven, the men will be arraigned and tried in federal courts.
In the meantime, the combined efforts of Sheriffs Rick Riggins and Mike Winters have caught the attention of CNN news personality, Lou Dobbs.
Lately, Dobbs has taken up the cause of securing America’s borders against illegal immigration. He feels that there is a link between some aspects of illegal immigration and “DTOs” — drug trafficking organizations or cartels.
Having heard of the venture undertaken by Riggins and Winters, a news team from CNN’s Los Angeles Bureau was sent up to watch the Tuesday operation.
Reporter Casey Wian, producer Nickie Bonner and cameramen John Aceves and Tim Hart spent most of the day with the operation. Bonner and Hart were even taken to a large field and its hooch.
The footage aired on Lou Dobbs’ show Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. A follow-up aired Friday afternoon.
Law enforcement agencies participating in last week’s operation were the Jackson County Oregon Sheriff’s Department, Shasta County Sheriff’s Department, Evidence Response Team agents of the FBI and the FBI’s Safe Streets Program, officers of the Department of Fish and Game, U. S. Forest Service, agents of the Siskiyou County-wide Interagency Narcotic Task Force, the California Highway Patrol and personnel from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department.
Newshawk: 420AM&PM - 420 Magazine
Source: Siskiyou Daily (CA)
Pubdate: September 18, 2006
Author: BRAD SMITH - Daily News Staff Writer
Copyright: Copyright © 2006 Siskiyou Daily News, a GateHouse Media paper
Contact: Yreka's Siskiyou Daily News - Contact Us
Website: Yreka's Siskiyou Daily News - Front
“Six tons of marijuana with a street value of $125 million — not bad, not bad at all,” Betts said. Coupled with last week’s operation up around Ruch, Ore., Siskiyou and Jackson County law enforcement believe that they have delivered a crippling blow to such criminal operations.
“Are these marijuana fields cartel-related? I’m 90 percent sure,” Betts said.
SCSO Sergeant Mike Gilley, who heads the Marijuana Eradication Unit, said the investigation into the large marijuana cultivation operation in the Maple Gulch area of White Cloud Mountain near Horse Creek in Siskiyou County began this spring.
Both aerial and ground reconnaissance of the gardens by Marijuana Eradication Unit detectives continued through the summer.
At about 4 a.m. on Tuesday, under Betts’ command, over 100 local, state and federal law enforcement officers briefed in Yreka and then headed down Highway 96 to begin the operation.
Members of Siskiyou and Jackson Special Response Teams were the first to enter the cultivation area. They flushed out a numerous of suspects who fled into the brush and heavily wooded steep terrain.
The SRTs checked the campsites and the gardens. Once the area was secure, the eradication process began.
More than six tons of marijuana valued at $125 million were confiscateds.
The operation continued through Wednesday morning, with over 19,000 marijuana plants being taken from the Maple Gulch area.
The operation moved up Highway 96 a few miles to the Barkhouse Creek area on the south side of the Klamath River where another 6,000 marijuana plants were taken from a cultivation operation planted among manzanita.
No suspects were found in the Barkhouse Creek operation but evidence that someone had recently been in the garden was found.
“The FBI is working with us,” Betts said. “We’re just getting started. We’ll be out there, hunting down these gardens until it starts snowing.”
Reserve deputy sheriff and owner of Northern Siskiyou Ambulance, Darrell Frost, remained on-scene during the operation to provide any needed medical assistance.
Helicopters from the California Highway Patrol and Brim Aviation in Ashland, Oregon provided essential services both days.
The CHP helicopter performed aerial reconnaissance flights and was on hand to medically evacuate personnel if necessary. The helicopters also short-hauled the officers into the gardens and hauled the harvested plants to the command post area.
Volunteers of the Siskiyou County Search and Rescue Unit provided essential communication services during the operations. Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Senior Chaplain Keith Bradley set up a kitchen and, together with several volunteers, worked both days to provide food to the law enforcement personnel working on the eradication operations.
Thursday at about 8 a.m., officers of the California Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle traveling east on Highway 96 near Collier’s Rest Area north of Yreka.
A short time later, the Sheriff’s Office received several calls reporting two Hispanic males walking east along Highway 96 near Quigley’s Store in the community of Klamath River.
According to a SCSO press release, all seven men were found to be Mexican nationals with no documentation other than Mexican drivers licenses.
The seven men were detained. and booked into Siskiyou County Jail on immigration holds.
Officials of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency have been notified of the immigration holds.
It is suspected that both cultivation operations are connected to an international Mexican drug cartel.
If the men prove to have no cartel links, deportation will follow. However, if links to a cartel can be proven, the men will be arraigned and tried in federal courts.
In the meantime, the combined efforts of Sheriffs Rick Riggins and Mike Winters have caught the attention of CNN news personality, Lou Dobbs.
Lately, Dobbs has taken up the cause of securing America’s borders against illegal immigration. He feels that there is a link between some aspects of illegal immigration and “DTOs” — drug trafficking organizations or cartels.
Having heard of the venture undertaken by Riggins and Winters, a news team from CNN’s Los Angeles Bureau was sent up to watch the Tuesday operation.
Reporter Casey Wian, producer Nickie Bonner and cameramen John Aceves and Tim Hart spent most of the day with the operation. Bonner and Hart were even taken to a large field and its hooch.
The footage aired on Lou Dobbs’ show Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. A follow-up aired Friday afternoon.
Law enforcement agencies participating in last week’s operation were the Jackson County Oregon Sheriff’s Department, Shasta County Sheriff’s Department, Evidence Response Team agents of the FBI and the FBI’s Safe Streets Program, officers of the Department of Fish and Game, U. S. Forest Service, agents of the Siskiyou County-wide Interagency Narcotic Task Force, the California Highway Patrol and personnel from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department.
Newshawk: 420AM&PM - 420 Magazine
Source: Siskiyou Daily (CA)
Pubdate: September 18, 2006
Author: BRAD SMITH - Daily News Staff Writer
Copyright: Copyright © 2006 Siskiyou Daily News, a GateHouse Media paper
Contact: Yreka's Siskiyou Daily News - Contact Us
Website: Yreka's Siskiyou Daily News - Front
