Three people were arrested in a Costa Mesa marijuana dispensary raid Thursday, according to medical pot advocates. Three people were arrested in a Costa Mesa marijuana dispensary raid Thursday, according to medical pot advocates.

Local police and federal Department of Justice officials would confirm only that a federal search warrant was executed at about 11:30 a.m. at Bayside Patients Assn., 1799 Newport Blvd.

Some details of the advocates' accounts could not be independently verified with police.

Seized in the raid were about 10 pounds of marijuana and less than $1,000 in cash from a safe that was sawed open on the sidewalk, said Chico resident Weston Mickey, a campaign manager for collectives seeking to craft an initiative that would protect dispensaries from federal intervention.

Mickey said about 15 Drug Enforcement Administration agents, along with about six Costa Mesa police and 12 Costa Mesa firefighters, were present when the search warrant was served.

Firefighters assisted DEA agents in opening the safe, Mickey said.

Images of the broken safe — reportedly opened by the urban search and rescue team — were posted on the Costa Mesa Firefighters Assn.'s Facebook page.

"It's a total shame they were raided," Mickey said, adding that raiding medical marijuana dispensaries undermines state medical marijuana laws, which in turns drives people to buy marijuana through illicit means that enrich cartels and the criminal drug market.