postalinspectors.uspis.gov/radDocs/PressRoom/OpSweep.html

 

Operation Southern Sweep

In the early hours of June 24, 2008, and over the course of the next three days, nearly 100 Postal Inspectors from the San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Phoenix Divisions participated in the execution of 29 search warrants on residences and “grow houses,” and searched 2,000 acres of land in California. The warrants were a result of a two-year investigation of a commercial marijuana cultivation and distribution organization by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, and the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement.

More than 450 federal, state, and local law enforcement officers in all discovered roughly 10,000 marijuana plants estimated to be worth up to $60 million. They seized 30 firearms—including fully automatic weapons,—several vehicles, nearly $200,000 in cash, and real property valued at $6.2 million. Charges have not yet been filed, and no targeted suspects have yet been arrested. However, one man was arrested for assault on a federal agent during the execution of a search warrant at a residence.

In early 2006, agents from the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement began looking at an organization that purchased a large parcel of mountainous land in the southern Humboldt and northern Mendocino County areas. The organization was suspected of growing large amounts of marijuana on the land and selling it for profit. California State Proposition 215 allows for the personal use and growing of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Through surveillance of the property, agents determined the organization was operating far outside the limits of Proposition 215.

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