More than 3,000 marijuana plants were seized in an illegal growing operation on the Central Coast that authorities think was the work of a Mexican drug ring. The plants were in a rural area of San Luis Obispo County, near Hi Mountain Road close to Lake Lopez.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s investigators spearheaded the raid, which involved a half dozen local, state, and federal agencies. No one was arrested.
The plants would have had an estimated street value of $20 million dollars when mature. Investigators say it was a sophisticated operation located on both private land and in the Los Padres National Forest.
The growers had even built a dam on a creek in the area to divert water to cultivate the plants.