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What would you do?

Two adults, who had been camping in the Aliso Park area west of New Cuyama, came across an active marijuana garden last Friday morning.

While in the area, the campers were reportedly approached by two Hispanic males who were tending to the marijuana garden.

The subjects tried to talk with the campers, however due to a language barrier, they were unsuccessful.

The subjects requested that the campers remain in the area, until the arrival of the “boss” who spoke English.

The campers became nervous and packed up their gear and left the area.

While the campers were driving down the dirt road, they were approached by a pick up truck traveling the opposite direction. As they passed the truck, they noticed the occupants seemed very interested in them. The truck stopped and the driver exited and waived for the campers to come back. They ignored his request and kept driving, believing he was the “boss” that the two subjects had referred to earlier. The driver returned to his truck and began chasing the campers down the mountain. During the chase, the truck came dangerously close to the campers’ vehicle several times.

Once the campers reached the paved road, they were able to get away from the truck and contact law enforcement. A Santa Barbara County Deputy Sheriff obtained the information from the campers.

A short time later, a Taft Police Officer spotted a truck, matching the description provided by the campers. Javier Barragan and Jose Lopez were stopped. Both subjects were positively identified by the campers as the persons who chased them down the mountains. The two were taken into custody and a search of the vehicle was conducted.

During the search, five high powered rifles, equipped with rifle scopes and numerous rounds of ammunition were found.

US Forest Service and Santa Barbara County Sheriff personnel responded to the marijuana garden to eradicate the plants. Once there, a large scale marijuana garden was found containing 13,300 growing marijuana plants. The estimated street value of the plants is approximately $26,600,000.

Barragan and Lopez were booked into the Santa Maria Jail for marijuana cultivation. Pending further investigation, false imprisonment and/or weapons charges may be added. Their bail is set at $50,000 each. Barragan resides in Maywood, Ca. and Lopez from Paramount, Ca.

The Sheriff’s Department and US Forest Service cautions hikers, campers and hunters that marijuana growing season is upon us. Most outside gardens are located in remote areas of the National Forest and are tended by Mexican Nationals who are usually armed. Do not attempt to make contact with them. Any suspicious activity should be reported to the Sheriff’s Department or the US Forest Service.

Story Created: Apr 20, 2009 at 4:53 PM PDT
 

Pythagllio

Patient Grower
Veteran
Wow, 26.6 million in April. Just think how much that garden would be worth when it goes to bud...umpteen $gazillion at least!
 
I doubt their calculations are correct. LEO likes to call anything with roots 1lb. so who knows. I'm shocked that someone had 13,000 plants with an armed perimeter guard. I wouldn't be anywhere NEAR those girls
 
F

fatcat666

i would have got the fuck out of there and never told anyone what happened that day until i was an old man telling my grandkids a story


wonder if the campers woulda told the fuzz if they werent chased????
 

I N Hail

Growing Grower AKA Wasted Rock Ranger
Veteran
thats wild
Wonder what they would have done to the camper's to keep their grow a secret?
 

Aeroguerilla

I’m God’s solider, devil’s apostle
Veteran
id come back with my boys and take there shit myself, god damn mexicans go back to your own country and grow pot, this is our turf! waaaarriors
 

gdup

Member
only a moron would have stayed like they wanted too. These guys were most likely Mexican Cartel members and would have killed them and hid the bodies in a heartbeat.
 

MoeBudz^420

Active member
Veteran
What would I do...

Hmmm, let's see. If I were like I am now, just an average joe out for a hike and happened to stumble across one of these ops - I would get da heck outta there, fast as possible. Never to return. Moe sure wouldn't want to play "moving target" with a bunch of gunmen...

However, if I held a position where I was a lawmaker, and knew as they all do that this type of crap does exist - I'd push to legalize cannabis, allow personal gardens and put those types of ppl right out of business.




Peace
 

JJScorpio

Thunderstruck
ICMag Donor
Veteran
They most likely would have killed them. How could they let them go after they found the grow?

It's sad, and this part of outside growing has to go. It's just to dangerous and gives a very bad image of outdoor growers.....
 
What would you do? Uh, I guess I'm curious has anyone even attempted to grow this much marijuana outside? I have read about people like Julian putting a few here, and a few there and them adding up to hundreds of plants... but 13,000? Geez, how do you even handle that much buds? My imagination tells me they are growing swag, but my knowledge of the area tells me that they got some great conditions to grow some primo stuff.

Knowing that there are groups of people growing like this in the wilderness completely turns me off to trying to put even a single plant outside in the wild. There is an abandonned building for 15+ years in my area with an area of irrigated wild growth. Last thing I would want is to be busted for trespassing.

My guess is the campers were about to be fertilizer for the fall crop. Anyway, thought someone could benefit from this story.
 
T

TroubleGuy

Those campers are lucky they got the fuck out. Mexican cartels are ruthless and those campers came face to face with people in a cartel.
 
I don't get it. I was watching a program last night where they caught this Mexican illegally in the US with a LOT of cocaine, but they said all they could do was release him back to Mexico and he can try to cross the border tomorrow.

Why are Americans sitting in jail while illegal immigrants get a free ride back home? That's what I don't get. Seems like Americans should get the free ride and illegals should be jailed? I dunno.
 
M

manwithnoname

maybe the people chasing them wanted to let them know there was an axe murderer in the back seat

for all the people that hate on the supposedly "big" grows here on icmag. take a look at what an actual big, and bad grow this was.
 
D

dankitydank

Those campers are lucky they got the fuck out. Mexican cartels are ruthless and those campers came face to face with people in a cartel.

i dont know.
that whole mexican cartel thing seems odd to me honestly.
english speaking boss. with mexicans camping out at a spot of 13.300 plants.
sounds to me migrant workers and farmers are seeming to understand how much money is in growing weed.
i dont think cartels are camping out in the states to grow weed. just illegal people involed in an opp.
the cartels would do everything in mexico, where they are untouchable, as mexican cartels in mexico pretty much are.

:2cents:

thats a lot of plants!:yoinks:
 

gdup

Member
wow dude that's pretty ignorant. Mexican Cartels have been growing in the United States for quite a while, there have been articles and documentaries on this exact subject. It's cheaper for them to grow in our national forests then smuggle a bunch of pot in our country and they make MILLIONS of dollars a year.
 
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