Pubdate: Sat, 15 Jul 2000
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2000 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Author: Guillermo Contreras, Journal Staff Writer

DRUG RING ALLEGEDLY CLONED POTENT POT

Federal authorities are investigating a drug-trafficking organization that 
allegedly was cloning marijuana to get highly potent yields.

Court records alleged one member of the business would clone marijuana 
plants and sell them to growers.

The marijuana then would be distributed in New Mexico and California.

Cloning is a seedless growing technique where the grower selects a "mother" 
plant with exceptional characteristics and clips off a piece of genetic 
plant material, DEA agent Timothy R. Davis said in court records. The 
grower places the material in a solution under high-intensity lights until 
roots are developed. Once the cloned plant matures, it is an exact copy of 
the "mother" plant, Davis said.

"I think it's relatively new," said Bill Hansen, head of the Drug 
Enforcement Administration in Albuquerque. "If you clone the marijuana 
plants, that means you don't have to buy seeds, and that's one less way of 
being detected."

Gregory Phillips, a professor of plant genetics in the Department of 
Agronomy and Horticulture at New Mexico State University, said growing by 
conventional methods a - using seeds a - results in a mix of 
characteristics from the two parent plants. Often, one of those plants 
isn't as good as the other.

"The advantage of cloning is if you have one individual plant with 
high-grade characteristics, then you can mass-produce a number of plants 
with these same qualities," Phillips said.

A drug agent familiar with the case said the growing operation is one of 
the most sophisticated in recent years.

"We always find one or two (marijuana growing operations), but it may have 
been (the early 1990s) since we found a conspiracy of this nature, 
something this organized," the agent said.

"Every year, we're going to find someone growing it for themselves. But 
it's probably been that long since we've done a conspiracy of this 
magnitude, where there's been a lot of interstate trafficking."

Hansen said marijuana plants grown in greenhouses generally are more potent 
than those grown outdoors. "They have a higher yield of THC," he said, 
referring to the active ingredient in marijuana.

The investigation began New Year's Eve when the Bernalillo County sheriff's 
deputies raided a Sandia Park home and found 117 high-grade cloned 
marijuana plants, 22 guns, 30,000 rounds of ammunition and $26,000 in cash.

Agents with the FBI, the DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms 
and the U.S. Customs Service also participated.

Marcus Hahn, 29, and Steven Snelling, 50, were arrested and subsequently 
indicted on federal drug and gun charges. Hahn also faces state charges of 
sexual assault on children.

"I have no information that Mark is part of any huge (marijuana) conspiracy 
such as that apparently described in the affidavits," Hahn's attorney, Kari 
Converse, said Thursday.

Snelling's attorney, Howard L. Anderson, said Friday that he had no 
comment, but "we'll deal with it at trial."

The search-warrant affidavits said the raid on Hahn's home netted 
information linking Hahn to other people suspected of peddling marijuana.

That led them to raid the home of one of Hahn's alleged associates in 
Sandia Park on Feb. 8. In that search, agents found 43 high-grade cloned 
cannabis plants, two large bags containing smaller bags of marijuana and a 
12-gauge shotgun, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in February.

Affidavits filed July 6 said a confidential informant told the DEA that 
Hahn provided three cycles of cloned marijuana plants to associates in 
Cliff and Glenwood to pay a debt on a load of marijuana that was stolen 
from Hahn in Long Beach, Calif.

The DEA's Davis alleged in the July 6 affidavits that Hahn derived his 
income almost solely from drug trafficking.

Converse disputed the allegations.

"I can confirm that they did find marijuana at (Hahn's) place," she said. 
"I can also say that he's had a legitimate business, so the allegations 
that he has no legitimate income is not true. They have the (IRS) documents 
to prove it." Converse said Hahn was a guide for "skiing, hunting and other 
sorts of mountaineering types of activities."

Authorities late last month searched two areas in southwestern New Mexico 
for other greenhouses, including one that reportedly was underground.

The documents said agents raided two homes in Glenwood and Cliff, and 
seized some marijuana plant roots, nearly 500 grams of marijuana, several 
documents, a Rolodex, marijuana cigarettes and a book on how to construct 
underground buildings.

No charges have been filed against the owners of the homes. However, the 
documents allege they joined their marijuana yields with Hahn and delivered 
the drugs to distributors in Los Angeles.

In other federal court records, one confidential source said Hahn produced 
5 to 7 pounds of marijuana every 45 days.

Those court records said Hahn allegedly derived hashish from the marijuana 
and made hashish oil, which is sprinkled on cigarettes or cigars. The 
records alleged Hahn sold the oil for $300 an ounce, and that the informant 
told agents that Hahn earned at least $250,000 a year from drug trafficking.
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