Part 51, page 39

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

B6 [redaction boxes] 4+ 6-16-94

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Raid: Operation called 'rip-and-run' by officers

Continued from Page B1 boat and head for Government Is- land to look for dope.

They're rarely disappointed.

Most of the island, except for the eastern tip, is owned by the Port of Portland. It is public land, but its lo- cation — accessible only by boat — is isolated from public view. That makes it ripe for growers looking for a good place to hide their poten- tially profitable produce.

"We call this a 'rip-and-run' opera- tion," Martinek explained as raiders uprooted plants. "If it's a significant grow, we would do a surveillance on the place."

An earlier cursory examination by helicopter showed that growers had tunneled through the blackber- ry bushes, cleared a few of them and planted marijuana in their place. This wasn't a rich marijuana field tended regularly.

The plants seized Monday by Mar- tinek's team and authorities from the Port of Portland, the city of Port- land and Oregon State Police — about 15 persons in all — were about six weeks from harvesting. None yet had the sticky buds — the flowers that generate the marijuana "high."

But the healthy, strong plants, which stood 3 feet to 16 feet high, were well on their way to maturity. Between 1 and 1.5 pounds of mari- juana for every 3 to 4 feet of plant eventually could have been pro- duced, Martinek estimated.

On the street, buds are selling for

"Those taller ones would have had a heck of a bud on them," Martinek said. "They were planted in growing cups, like they do in an indoor oper- ation, to give them a good start."

Chicken wire was wrapped around some of the plants. Dis- carded nearby were 12 plastic con- tainers, probably used for watering, and a small bag of fertilizer.

No one knew who cultivated the crops, but they figured the garden- ers, who watered the plants by hand and fertilized via plastic bags, were unsophisticated.

"The pros set up a watering pool and a drip system that waters the plants automatically. Then they get the heck out of there and don't come back very often," said Sgt. Timothy McLain of the Oregon State Police. McClain is a member of the Port- land Airport Interagency Narcotics Team.

After four hours of hiking the beaches, climbing the rocks and hacking blackberry bushes, the au- thorities jumped back in their boats and headed for still another grow operation. In a field of blackberry bushes near Northeast 102nd Ave- nue and Sandy Boulevard, they found 80 more plants.

They counted the day a success.

"If we got only three plants, it would be worthwhile," said George R. Schneider, a River Patrol officer for the sheriff's office. "If we didn't do this, we would have plants all over, and I would prefer not to see

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