$1 Billion In Illegal Marijuana Seized During Record-Breaking Southern California Drug Bust

It was the largest illegal pot bust in Los Angeles County history.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The largest illegal marijuana bust in Los Angeles County history — which netted 373,000 plants that would ultimately have been worth $1 billion on the street — eradicated only a fraction of the illicit grows in the Southern California high desert, authorities said Wednesday. The problem is wide-ranging in the Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles, officials said, and has grown tremendously during the coronavirus pandemic. Armed cartel members run massive illegal grows, some spanning dozens of greenhouses, that are detrimental to the state’s legal marijuana market. Damian Dovarganes via AP Authorities seized tens of millions of dollars worth of illegal marijuana grown in the high desert and a cache of confiscated firearms Tuesday as part of an effort to curtail the black market's grip on Southern California.