GONE TO POT; MARIJUANA PLANTATION SEIZED.Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Staff Writer Using machetes, federal officers destroyed thousands of marijuana marijuana or marihuana, drug obtained from the flowering tops, stems, and leaves of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa (see hemp) or C. indica; the latter species can withstand colder climates. plants Tuesday that were growing across 25 acres of forest about 10 miles north of La Canada Flintridge. U.S. Forest Service officers said the pot growers severely damaged the forest by cutting down large numbers of trees and polluting pol·lute tr.v. pol·lut·ed, pol·lut·ing, pol·lutes 1. To make unfit for or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter. See Synonyms at contaminate. 2. creeks with fertilizers and pesticides. The damage was the most significant caused by a pot plantation in at least five years, said Rita Wears, a federal special investigator for the U.S. Forest Service. ``We've seen bigger, but this is bigger than average,'' Wears said of the size of the seizure Forcible possession; a grasping, snatching, or putting in possession. In Criminal Law, a seizure is the forcible taking of property by a government law enforcement official from a person who is suspected of violating, or is known to have violated, the law. . The growers had set up their home near the plants but fled before officers arrived. No suspects were in custody Tuesday afternoon, said Randi Jorgensen, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service in Arcadia. ``Arrests are expected,'' Jorgensen said. The plantation was fed by a sophisticated irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. system. On average, the U.S. Forest Service finds about 10 marijuana plantations PLANTATIONS. Colonies, (q.v.) dependencies. (q.v.) 1 Bl. Com. 107. In England, this word, as it is used in St. 12, II. c. 18, is never applied to, any of the British dominions in Europe, but only to the colonies in the West Indies and America. 1 Marsh. Ins, B. 1, c. 3, Sec. 2, page 64. annually on its land in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the plantation was the largest found in the forest. In 1991, authorities seized more than 7,500 marijuana plants valued at $37.5 million from a remote, irrigated plantation. The value of the plants destroyed Tuesday was not immediately available. ``They were probably headed to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, for resale,'' she said. More than a dozen U.S. Forest officers began working Monday with Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and the Monrovia Police Department to pull out the 5-foot plants, Jorgensen said. ``We have pulled several thousand and there are several thousand still to be pulled,'' said Jorgensen. ``It was done in small patches - five acres in one spot, one acre in another.'' After being pulled up by hand, the plants were airlifted by helicopter to be disposed of, officials said. Officers also spent hours carrying out mounds of trash and food left behind by the people who were harvesting the marijuana, officials said. ``They probably spent as much time carting out the litter as lifting the marijuana itself,'' Jorgensen said. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: U.S. Forest Service firefighters guide a bundle of marijuana transported by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department This article is about the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department, not to be confused with the smaller Los Angeles County Police The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is a local law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. helicopter. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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