North Coast pot seizures off to strong start

The state’s annual Campaign Against Marijuana Production is off to a strong start that promises to set new pot eradication records on the North Coast, authorities said Tuesday.

“There’s a lot of dope,” said Mendocino County Sheriff’s Capt. Rusty Noe.

In its first official week in just five counties, CAMP-assisted marijuana operations seized 440,902 plants, said CAMP spokeswoman Michelle Gregory.

Those figures do not include marijuana seizures made prior to CAMP’s official start last week.

Last year, CAMP’s eradication efforts yielded 2.9 million plants from 40 California counties.

First day totals indicate pot seizures in Sonoma and Mendocino counties were slightly less than last year’s but Lake County’s numbers were nearly double: 20,224 plants compared with 11,825 last year.

CAMP seized more plants — 499,508 — in Lake County than any other county last year. Most of that marijuana was found on public land.

On its first day in Sonoma County last week, CAMP eradicated 12,294 plants compared with 13,046 on the first day last year.

In Mendocino County, CAMP seized about 13,000 plants from a single garden in the Red Mountain campground area east of Ukiah on its first day, Noe said.

Last year’s first-day results were 14,864, Gregory said. But eradication efforts led by the County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team prior to CAMP’s official arrival boost the number of plants seized in the county so far this year to 62,000, Noe said.

Those efforts include a raid Thursday west of Ukiah that yielded 7,714 plants from three sites discovered during the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s marijuana observation school held in Ukiah. The school teaches officers to spot marijuana from the air.

Officers from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service participated in Thursday’s raids.

They seized another 2,200 plants during a raid in the Covelo area on seven gardens that also were uncovered during the overflight school. Officials arrested four Bulgarian nationals: Radoslav Ivkoz Ayvazov, 29, of Covelo; Petko Petkov, 48, of Concord; Martin Kamenov Dzaynelev, 28, and David Dzaynelev, 35, both of Walnut Creek. Also arrested Thursday in a nearby garden was Covelo resident John Henry Ross, 60. All were arrested on suspicion of marijuana cultivation and sales.

Both state and local officials expect 2009 to be another banner year for marijuana eradication.

“We’re going to be busy,” Noe said.