The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration joined California law enforcement to shut down cartel-tied illegal marijuana grows in Southern California on Tuesday 8 June 2021.[1] Federal involvement followed a request from Congressmen Jay Obernolte and Mike Garcia to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking Washington to prosecute illegal growers to the full extent of the law.[1]

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the DEA carried out the operation in unincorporated Lancaster, developed after public calls for service and complaints from residents, the department said.[2] Twenty-three people were arrested in the Tuesday crackdown in the Antelope Valley, about 70 miles (112.65 km) north of Los Angeles.[3] Five firearms were seized and two water trucks recovered during the operation, the sheriff’s department said.[2] More than 400 sheriff’s personnel, the National Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and deputies from Kern, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties took part, the department said.[2] Obernolte’s office said over 500 local, state and federal personnel were involved in the bust in the Antelope Valley with over 200 warrants served.[1] Officials planned to bulldoze 500 illegal grows in the area over the following days.[3] The largest grow found that day had more than 70 greenhouses over 10 acres (4.05 hectares) and an estimated marijuana crop worth $50 million, the sheriff said.[3]

The department said a 75-greenhouse grow covering 10 acres was bulldozed during the operation.[2] Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the operation partly answered residents’ complaints that water was being stolen, and Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris put the value of the infrastructure and marijuana found at $380 million.[3] Villanueva said he did not yet have a count of the marijuana seized, which officers were measuring by the tons, and that charges for those arrested would likely mix state misdemeanours and felonies, with possible federal cases.[3]

Obernolte described cartel grows as taking water, damaging the environment and intimidating communities, and said the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department had 850 potential grow sites under investigation.[1] Seven mixed-breed dogs, including four puppies, were taken from the grows and handed to a non-profit rescue.[2]