Two illicit marijuana operations will flower no longer after a double-header eradication effort by county law enforcement earlier this month.

The Amador County Combined Narcotic Enforcement Team and the sheriff's office SWAT team seized two separate cultivation sites near Ione on Aug. 12. The first was located on private property located near Highway 88 and Buena Vista Road in Ione, amid thick manzanita and grease brush. No homes or public access routes were located nearby, said Undersheriff Jim Wegner.

The county's Special Weapons and Tactics team was brought in to secure the commercial site from possibly armed growers. No suspects were found at the location, but investigators discovered a small camp with fresh food and ammunition, and seized 800 relatively small and immature cannabis plants.

"I appreciate the Amador Sheriff's SWAT team members for assisting and securing the site for ACCNET members," task force commander Jackie Long said in an e-mail.

The task force began conducting surveillance on the marijuana cultivation site after receiving information about it in July. The surveillance revealed that the cultivation was being tended by a Mexican national drug trafficking organization, according to a release from the task force.

Wegner said the evidence found at the camp indicated at least one person had periodically camped at the site and tended the plants.

Later that same day, task force agents eradicated a smaller, unrelated cultivation site located on private property near Lower Jackson Valley Road and Highway 88. Situated adjacent to a cultivated field with a nearby water source, a total of 31 marijuana plants, some reaching as high as 9 feet tall, were eradicated from the location. A suspect believed to be involved with the operation has been identified and the investigation is continuing, the release said.