Thousands of opium poppy plants seized from Moss Landing field

UPDATE 5/15/2018 4:50 p.m.: A first of its kind bust in Monterey County – thousands of opium poppy plants were seized in Moss Landing last week. These plants, Papaver Somniferum, are the same ones used to make heroin.

Investigators with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office learned of a possible opium poppy cultivation along the 500 block of Dolan Road. They started an investigation and because the alleged grow was on private property, later came back with a search warrant.

“We did a presumptive test on the plant and then it went a step further,” Cmdr. John Thornburg said. “We had to get ahold of a specialist in plants and showed it to him and get their opinion on what it was and their opinion, they rendered it was exactly what we thought it was.”

Deputies eradicated an acre worth of plants, which contained 27,000 plants in different stages of growth, as well as 16,500 harvested plants. The Sheriff’s Office said “the straws from the harvested plans can still be used to produce various types of illicit opiates.”

Investigators noted the plants are normally supposed to grow up to 40″ in height, however the ones found in Moss Landing were well over 6′. There’s no telling how long they were there, but investigators say they thrive in this kind of climate.

There wasn’t any heroin found on the property, however there was enough raw opium in the fields to make about a pound and a half of heroin, worth about $45,000. The Sheriff’s Office said it’s a process that can be repeated for up to three production cycles a year. It’s a process that is quite labor intensive.

“It (the bulb) bleeds a white latex which contains the opium,” said Detective Mike Smith. “Once you collected out of the entire field, you have a giant glob of raw opium. That raw opium is then processed multiple times through chemical processes to yield an end result, generally around 6-10 percent of heroin vs. raw opium. So it takes quite a bit of poppies to end up with a large amount of end product of heroin.”

But this product won’t make it onto the streets. In total, about four tons of plants were taken to an undisclosed location and destroyed. Several plants were kept for evidence.

No one’s been arrested at this point but there are people of interest in the case. Anybody busted could face some hefty charges.

“Possession and cultivation of this type of drug is a felony so they’d be looking at quite of bit of potential charges, especially with the number of plants that we took,” Thornburg said.

The investigation is ongoing and it’s anticipated the case will eventually be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

ORIGINAL POST: Thousands of Opium Poppy plants were seized from a field in Moss Landing over the weekend.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office became aware of a possible Opium Poppy field being cultivated in the 500 block of Dolan Road.

The Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division eradicated one acre of Opium Poppies, which contained 27,000 plants and another 16,500 harvested plants.

“The straws from the harvested plants can be used to produce various types of illicit opiate products,” said the sheriff’s office.

Nearly 13 pounds of raw opium was taken, which could be converted into heroin. The sheriff’s office said that amount of opium would be a little less than a pound and a half of heroin. The street value of a pound and a half of heroin is about $45,000.

“The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is committed to keeping illegal narcotics out of the hands of those in our communities.”

This investigation is ongoing and the sheriff’s office anticipates the case will be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution of those involved with this operation.