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As smoke continues to gather over medical-marijuana operations in Colorado, local law-enforcement agencies continue to find weed-growing operations in remote locations -- and Pike National Forest appears to be a favorite. Pot worth an estimated $2.5 million was seized during a Sugarloaf Mountain raid in July; click here to view a slideshow of images from the haul, courtesy of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. More recently, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office joined a slew of agencies in "locating and taking down a marijuana grow operation in the San Isabel/Pike National Forest," according to a news release. Estimated number of plants: 4,000. Get more details from the DCSO below:
Marijuana Grow Discovered the Douglas County Portion of the Pike National Forest
NARRATIVE: DOUGLAS COUNTY: The Douglas County Sheriff's Office, the National Forest Service and agents from the DEA and Front Range Drug Task Force assisted the South Metro Drug Task Force in locating and taking down a marijuana grow operation in the San Isabel/Pike National Forest.
On 09/10/2009, agents from the South Metro Drug Task Force were conducting a proactive patrol of the San Isabel/Pike National Forest area of Douglas County when they spotted what they believed to be a marijuana grow operation. The operation was located west of Sedalia in the National Forest, in a heavily wooded area which was made up of very rugged terrain.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office Regional SWAT team went in this morning (09/11/2009) and secured the area where the grow operation had been located. No suspects were found.
Detectives and agents hiked into the area and found the operation, which consisted of 4,000 plants. The Air National Guard assisted the National Forest Service by removing the plants from the area. The plants will be taken to an undisclosed location to be destroyed.
This is still an open investigation and detectives will be looking into whether this grow operation is related to any of the other operations that were discovered on the Jefferson County side of the national forest.
If the public has any information about this operation or who may be involved please call the South Metro Drug Task Force at 720-748-2995 or you can email their tip line at tips@smdtf.org.