SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State and local investigators earlier this week seized more than 36,000 illegally-grown marijuana plants at 10 sites hidden among legitimate crops on farmland in the Sacramento County Delta area.

The “cartel-related grow sites” were found are on private property, and the marijuana was grown without the knowledge or permission of the land owners, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.

Investigators believe these hidden marijuana growing sites are the work of drug cartels, and no arrests have been made in connection with this week’s seizures, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi said.

Those who illegally plant the marijuana and manage these growing sites will place the marijuana plants between the land owner’s legitimate crops to hide them, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Gandhi said the marijuana plants found this week were hidden among large corn stalks and another crops, concealing the marijuana plants that were not visible from nearby rural roads. He said investigators — wearing tactical gear attached to a rope and harnesses — were dropped from a helicopter to reach the clandestine growing sites.

Those growing the marijuana pay attention to harvesting schedules and typically work at the sites in the middle of the night to avoid any farm workers or land owners, the sheriff’s spokesman said.

“These guys are very good and creative,” Gandhi said about those illegally cultivating the marijuana. “These guys are not dumb. They go deep (into the farmland).”

Investigators seized a total of 36,524 marijuana plants during two-day enforcement operation conducted on Monday and Tuesday by the Central Valley California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a regional task force made up of federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies.

Some Sacramento sheriff’s officials are assigned to the regional task force and participated in the marijuana operation in conjunction with the California Eradication and prevention of Illicit Cannabis program, which focuses on the investigation and prosecution of civil and criminal cases relating to illicit cannabis cultivation with a focus on environmental and economic harms and labor exploitation.

Gandhi said some of the marijuana plants were collected as samples to be used as evidence in the ongoing investigation, and the rest of the seized marijuana was destroyed.

Investigators also found at the sites portable water pumps and power generators used to grow the marijuana, Gandhi said. The Sheriff’s Office declined to provide names of nearby roads where the marijuana was found because investigators were continuing to look for other illegal growing sites.

“These illegal operations cause disruptions to the local farmers’ crops, steal their water and electricity and negatively impact the environment with their waste and toxic chemicals they use during the illegal marijuana grow process,” sheriff’s officials said in a Facebook post.

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