Authorities say four men arrested in the course of raids on pot farms hidden in Southern Oregon forests this week are part of a Mexican drug cartel that is growing pot for national distribution.
In recent days teams of state police, Jackson County deputies, and federal agents have cut some 42,000 marijuana plants potentially worth more than $100 million from sites near Applegate Lake about 20 miles southwest of Medford, authorities said. Police arrested the three men in the pickup, identified as Zaragoza-Infante, Timoteo Hernandez-Guzman, 46, and Angel Cardenas-Estrada, 20, on charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.
In a dawn raid last Friday, authorities netted 32,000 marijuana plants from two plantations, and found two armed men. One got away, but the other was arrested. Jose Guadalupe Gomez-Gonzalez, 22, told agents that he was paid $1,500 a day to tend the plants.
Agents returned Tuesday to the woods near Applegate Lake, where they removed up to 10,000 more marijuana plants.
All four men were being held without bail on immigration holds, authorities said.
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_081507_news_southern_oregon_marijuana.3a2e7796.html
2007-08-16
13:17:09
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