8,000 marijuana plants found near Stevenson, three arrested

STEVENSON, Wash. (AP)-- About 8,000 marijuana plants have been seized in one of the largest pot raids in the Pacific Northwest this year, and three people have been arrested, Skamania County sheriff's deputies said.

Deputies found the marijuana growing Wednesday near a steep hillside in the Columbia River Gorge about 10 miles east of town. No houses were in the area, but items found at the site indicated people had been living there and tending the plants, deputies and members of the Clark-Skamania Drug Task Force said.

As many as six people in camouflage clothing were spotted from a Drug Enforcement Administration aircraft. One was arrested soon afterward about a mile away and two more were taken into custody Wednesday night near State Route 14, all for investigation of manufacturing marijuana, deputies said.

Because of the steep terrain, the pot plants had to be airlifted from the site.

Late last month, in neighboring Clark County, sheriff's deputies found more than 3,700 marijuana plants worth an estimated $750,000 in a remote forested area about two miles south of Lake Merwin.

On July 7, Oregon State Police reported the seizure of about 7,500 pot plants 2 to 4 feet tall on U.S. Forest Service land northwest of Lakeview in southcentral Oregon.