Former California Game Warden Details Armed Cartel Growers Operating Near Silicon Valley

What was said

"We came around the corner and we follow this water line for maybe 100 yards, and then I see the water line just kind of peter out, and now there's other little diversions. And I'm looking on both sides of the creek and brush and trees are gone, and there's 18-inch marijuana plants on both sides, just terraced. And a couple seconds after that, we see them— two growers, in OD green, olive drab green, battle dress uniforms circa Vietnam era."

Former California game warden John Nores recounts discovering armed Sinaloa Cartel marijuana growers dressed in military-style uniforms operating within 50 yards of him in Henry Coe State Park near Silicon Valley in 2004. The growers exhibited tactical military training and were heavily armed, marking the beginning of Nores' exposure to organized cartel operations on U.S. public lands. This discovery contradicted the traditional expectation that game wardens would only encounter poachers, not paramilitary drug operations.