Yuma BP assists in raid of 200-acre site in Blythe; pot seized, 104 detained
Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents from the Blythe Station assisted the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office during a narcotics raid on a suspected illegal marijuana grow site that was located near Palo Verde College in Blythe on Wednesday morning.
According to information provided by the Riverside sheriff’s office, a search warrant was served on what was thought to be a large-scale marijuana operation at 4955 Neighbors Blvd.
The grow operation covered over 200 acres, with approximately 360 green houses along with numerous other fixed and mobile structures.
The search warrant was issued in response to information of a marijuana cultivation operation being run under the guise of a legal hemp operation. The Riverside County Agriculture Commission had previously conducted a preliminary investigation which provided data that the product being grown on the property was in fact marijuana.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Emergency Services Team (EST) secured the property and detained more than 90 people. Deputies from Colorado River Station coordinated the eradication effort with Department members from the Thermal and Palm Desert Station, as well as the Bureau of Land Management, Animal Control and Code Enforcement.
For three days, all participating agencies under the supervision of the Colorado River Station personnel with the assistance of the Palo Verde Irrigation District eradicated and removed over 114,049 marijuana plants and other materials used in the marijuana cultivation.
The environmental impact of the illegal operation is yet to be determined and is still being evaluated.
The Special Investigations Bureau (SIB) assumed control of the criminal investigation of those detained for the illegal grow operation. SIB has task force officers from participating federal agencies, including Customs Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Those agencies sent additional resources to assist in processing those detained and to determine those responsible for running the illegal grow operation. Two principal suspects who owned and operated the land were taken into custody by Homeland Security Investigations.
Blythe Border Patrol agents, along with (HSI), and deputies from the sheriff’s office, conducted interviews and record checks on each of the individuals to determine their immigration status.
After interviewing everyone who had been detained, HSI determined that 14 of the Chinese nationals were in violation of their immigration status. An additional two individuals, from Guatemala and Mexico, were also found to be illegally present in the United States.
The remainder of the 104 who were detained were determined to be legally present in the country as well.
Border Patrol agents transported the 16 individuals with immigration violations to Yuma Station for processing. Two individuals, who were allegedly running the illegal grow site, were taken into custody by HSI.