Marijuana Bust Nets 10,000 Plants, Four Suspects

Much of the day Friday, a helicopter brought out load after load of marijuana plants from hillsides in the Applegate... more than 10,000 plants, according to Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters.

Winters says marijuana retails for about 5-thousand dollars a pound, street value. He says last year his department confiscated 27.6 tons of marijuana.

The grows are not just valuable. They're also dangerous. Law enforcement officers say the grow is most likely part of a Mexican drug cartel. Winters says members of the cartel will fight in a gun battle to protect their crop... and to try to stay out of federal prison if they're caught.

Also, many hunting seasons begin soon, and hunters will be out in the woods right when the marijuana crop is at its fullest and at its highest value. Siskiyou County Sheriff Rick Riggins says his department has been working to bring awareness to communities that the grows are out there in the woods.

Riggins also says drugs like pot and meth are connected. He says "some people say to me its just marijuana... well it is but it is also very dangerous to the people out in the woods and it also funds illegal activity... and these guys are also doing meth."

In addition to the four men already in custody... investigators believe one man is still at large... and he is considered armed and dangerous.