Police bust cannabis farm ring tucked away in national forest seizing 460,000 plants and arresting more than 100



Police have smashed a huge cannabis farm ring hidden in a national forest, uprooted 460,000 plants and arrested more than 100 people.

They also seized 1,500lbs of processed marijuana, 27 guns and 11 vehicles in the two-week operation to purge the Mendocino National Forest in California of illicit pot gardens.

The 900,000-acre forest, which is larger than Rhode Island, spans six counties in a region of mountains and forests known as the Emerald Triangle for its high concentration of pot farms.



Bust: Police seized 1,500lbs of processed marijuana, 27 guns and 11 vehicles in the two-week operation to purge the Mendocino National Forest (file picture)

Agents raided more than 50 gardens teeming with trash, irrigation pipes and chemicals that damage forestland and waterways, authorities said.

'The Mendocino National Forest is under attack by drug traffickers,' U.S. lawyer Melinda Haag said.

The huge operation, which saw teams from six sheriff's departments, the state anti-narcotics bureau and at least six federal agencies, is part of an annual summer event to purge public land from marijuana.

Big problem: The huge operation is part of an annual summer event to purge public land from marijuana (file picture)

Mendocino County Sheriff, Tom Allman, who has had to deal with the legalities of marijuana for medicinal purposes under state law and the complete federal ban on the drug, said none of the gardens busted in the raid appeared to have been for medicinal purposes.



In past operations officials have blamed Mexican drug cartels for some of the state's largest pot farms, but Haag would not comment on where those arrested in the Mendocino operation were from.



Raid: Agents raided more than 50 illicit pot gardens in Mendocino National Forest, California

Twenty-five already face federal charges.



Many people living near the forest had complained about an increasing number of confrontations with armed guards protecting the gardens, Sheriff Allman said.

Forest Service officials have also expressed concern about the damage illegal marijuana farms have on the forest.

