MJ Raids in Northern, Southern California

Police in California made two sizeable pot busts in late May, seizing more than 1,000 marijuana plants and more than 40 pounds of harvested weed.

In Southern California, police seized 432 plants and 10 pounds of cannabis after stopping a car May 23. A police K9 handler from Placentia pulled over a vehicle early in the morning on State Route 91 for a routine traffic violation.

Inside the car, the officer found a “quantity” of both ketamine and MDMA, two party drugs restricted by state and federal law, police said. That led authorities to serve a warrant on a business suite in Anaheim.

The building was searched at 9:45 a.m., and police discovered it was the site of a marijuana grow, authorities said. Two men were arrested following the raid.

Nam Baek, 32, of Los Angeles and Joo Kim, 31, also of L.A. were charged with possession of a controlled substance and cultivation and transportation of marijuana.

The day before, in the San Francisco Bay Area, police seized more than 600 plants, several pound of weed, guns, and cash, in a bust on sites in Fremont and Newark. The raid was a special operation by the Southern Alameda County Major Crimes Task Force.

Police working with the task force searched the two homes May 23. In Newark, they said, they found hundreds of plants, a handgun, a 12-gauge shotgun, ammunition, and a pound of processed weed. In Fremont, police said, they took away another 300 plants, 2 pounds of processed pot, and 40 pounds of cannabis that was cut and drying.

Officers also discovered the owners of the home in Newark had jury-rigged the electrical system to bypass the meter, police said. Large-scale indoor marijuana growers typically do this to avoid detection by the power company and to steal large amounts of electricity.

Police arrested three men in connection with the raid. Antonio M. Rodriguez, 22, of Fremont; Patrick Francis Alexander, 27, of Sacramento; and Jarrod Ryan Hardin, 31, of Newark were all booked into the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County.

Federal and local law enforcement, often working together, have long targeted medical marijuana in both Anaheim and Alameda County. Raids like those carried out in late May are routine.

Anaheim has banned not only MMJ dispensaries but also delivery services, and many officials in Alameda County continue the war against medical pot despite strong public support for it in the area.