The bust marks the second significant seizure of the season
Hollister – Drug agents confiscated about 150 pounds of marijuana hidden along side a creek bed on Betabel Road near Highway 101 Friday, according to police.
About a week ago, San Benito County Sheriff’s deputies noticed the tips of the plants while on patrol in the area and notified agents with the Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team, said commander Mark Colla.
Over the week-long period, local agents with the regional drug enforcement task force periodically checked the garden to see if they could determine who was maintaining it, Colla said.
“We were trying to see who was responsible for watering the plants,” he said. “It was well-tended to initially.”
Although the plants, which were a couple weeks away from full maturity, were growing in the open along the creek bed, Colla said the tenders did a good job of camouflaging their cache. After clearing out areas to plant the marijuana, brush was pushed up against the sides of the grow to make a natural fence so people couldn’t see in, he said.
However, the gardeners never showed and agents decided to eradicate the small patches Friday morning, one that housed 100 plants and another approximately 30 feet away that was home to 50, he said.
At full maturity, the plants produce one to two pounds of marijuana each and can garner between $1,000 to $4,000 per pound on the street, he said.
The bust marks the second significant seizure of the season, which usually begins in April or May and culminates at the end of August or beginning of September, Colla said.
Agents confiscated 75 pounds of marijuana from an indoor greenhouse at a residence on Lovers Lane in early July, and made two or three small seizures with about 20 plants a piece between then and now, he said.
Last season, agents confiscated about 20,000 plants.
“It seems like a small grow compared to what we’ve seen,” he said, “but they could have made a substantial amount of money off of it.”
