Authorities in the Los Angeles area have reportedly seized more than 370,000 marijuana plants with a street value worth an estimated $1 billion, NBC News reported.
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In the raid, there were 131 people arrested, and more than 33,480 pounds of harvested plants were seized during the 10-day operation, according to the sheriff's office. The marijuana collected was destroyed.
The operation was being held in Antelope Valley, which is located north of Los Angeles. The raid included the effort of hundreds of law enforcement officers, and even with all that manpower authorities reported they only reached 40% of the illegal growers that were identified.
"The second week of the operation, the first week, they were already trying to rebuild the grows," Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a press conference.
205 of 500 illegal grows that had been identified from the air were shut down by officials, Villanueva said.
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The drug was legalized for recreational use in 2016 by California voters, and the state first sold it in 2018, so officials were clear that the effort was not about stopping the sale of marijuana overall.
"This is not a war on the legal cannabis business in California," U.S. Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif said, according to NBC News.
Lancaster Mayor Rex Parris told the public in a press conference that these growers are not ordinary people, but rather were very dangerous people.
"We are talking about the cartels; we are not talking about mom and pap people selling marijuana that they grew in their backyards," Parris said. "This is the cartels. We are very, very close to driving down the freeway and seeing bodies hanging from the overpasses."
Officials said that those growing the drug illegally in Antelope Valley are stealing water from hydrants and using illegal wells to grow their plants. They have also been using toxic and banned chemicals before dumping them where it poisons the environment. Some of the growers are also armed.
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Growers are endangering the protected Mohave ground squirrel and the desert tortoise. They have also been known to cut down the iconic Joshua Tree to make room in their greenhouses, Chloe Hakim said to NBC News.
"There's a lot of important critical species that are out there that need their habitat to thrive and to survive," the biologist with the state department of fish and wildlife said.
Twenty-two of those arrested were on felony counts while the others had misdemeanor allegations, the sheriff said. The decision on how they will be charged and prosecuted is up to the district attorney.