Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced on 7 July 2021 that a ten-day operation in the Antelope Valley had eradicated 372,918 illegal cannabis plants and destroyed 33,480 pounds (about 15.2 tonnes) of processed marijuana, the largest illegal-grow bust in the history of Los Angeles County.[1][2][3] Officers served 205 search warrants on cultivation sites from 8 June, arresting 131 people, including 19 held by water-theft enforcement teams, and seizing 33 firearms.[1][2][3]

The grows were run by armed groups that stole millions of gallons of groundwater during a severe drought and poisoned streams with banned pesticides, the sheriff said.[2][3] Aerial surveillance counted about 500 illegal grows in the valley, up from 150 a year earlier, so the 205 sites raided were only a fraction of the total.[2][3] California wildlife officers led the eradication and evidence work on 28 of the warrants and took in 84 dogs and other animals found living in poor conditions at the sites.[1]

Sixty-five vehicles, including two water trucks, were seized alongside more than 16 tons of marijuana.[3] The sheriff said 30 grow locations were flattened and 180 animals were rescued.[3]

In a release on the Antelope Valley drive, the Sheriff’s Department said two search warrants were served in the Fort Tejon area of Palmdale, where a suspect was arrested on 4 May 2021 and about 3,800 marijuana plants were seized and destroyed, and that California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers took part because the grows were on public land.[4] The department attributed the warrants in the Fort Tejon area of Palmdale to public calls for service and to information from the office of county Supervisor Kathryn Barger.[4] The department said the grows endangered residents who stumble onto them through toxic moulds, fungus, faulty electrical hook-ups and booby traps.[4]