An interagency task force comprising 300 law enforcement officers and federal agents swept across Clark County Thursday morning in what police say is the largest drug bust in local history.

It’s the result of Operation Gang Green, an investigation by the Clark-Skamania Drug Task Force that netted around 6,800 marijuana plants and put at least 43 people behind bars after morning raids on 56 Clark County locations, officials said.

“The massive scale of this marijuana-growing operation is staggering and unprecedented in the history of Clark County,” said task force Cmdr. Mike Cooke. “When viewed on a map of Clark County, it’s clear that this group has made Clark County a major producer of marijuana on the West Coast.”

The number of warrants served in one day in such a concentrated area is unheard-of, Cooke added. Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp added it was “huge” and “unprecedented.”

Around 300 officers from 16 agencies set up at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Orchards in the early-morning hours. The rolling sweep of raids started around 7 a.m. and continued throughout the morning. Most raids were finished by noon.

Police targeted houses rented and purchased by people with connections to a Vietnamese crime ring, police said. The investigation, launched in 2009, allegedly found that marijuana was being grown for distribution throughout the United States.

The Clark County group earns an estimated $27 million annually, Kapp said.

Many raids were in clusters in Orchards and Salmon Creek, but there were a few locations in Battle Ground and east county, Cooke said.

One group of four houses, on Northeast 139th Court, drew at least 80 police officers in an early-morning raid.

Police activity was visible from a living room window of Kent Shannon’s home.

Shannon was asleep when the raids started, but quickly woke up to banging sounds and police warnings, he said.

“I thought it was a dream,” he said Thursday afternoon.

Shannon looked out his window and saw dozens of police on his block. Police cars were lining his street, he said.

He wasn’t surprised when police confirmed that the homes were raided in connection with a marijuana grow, he said.

His neighbors were pretty private, but he said that the homes were frequented by different “fancy cars” and came alive at midnight.

Chris Hyde reported a similar situation on his east Vancouver block.

He was backing out of his driveway when he spotted a SWAT team parked up the street, he said.

Three houses were raided in his neighborhood. He said the people who lived in the houses weren’t seen very often after they moved in. At one point in the past, a neighbor suspected they might be growing pot, he said.

“When I saw the police cars out there today, I thought ‘OK, they’re getting busted,’ ” he said.

It was the second drug issue he’s seen on the street, which he said you wouldn’t expect.

“It’s kind of freaky,” Hyde said. “We’re a very regular, middle-class neighborhood.”

Processing

A ringing cellphone in an evidence bag went unanswered as several sheriff’s deputies processed burlap sacks full of marijuana plants and other items outside a house off Northeast 76th Street. Students from a nearby school walked past the house, which was barricaded by several police vehicles and a rental truck.

The scene was repeated throughout the county Thursday afternoon as police teams returned to houses to process evidence. Some remained on the scene into the evening.

Police hoped to uncover evidence related to marijuana grows, organized crime activities, money laundering and the hiding of proceeds from unlawful drug sales.

Since he investigation began in 2009, the task force monitored grow locations, investigated finances and worked with other law enforcement agencies around the country.

Even before Thursday’s raids, 150 pounds of dried marijuana had been seized and several arrests made, some in other states.

The people who were arrested Thursday were taken to a processing facility to be fingerprinted, photographed and bused to the Clark County Jail.

Many of them will make their first court appearances Friday morning. People arrested on felonies before midnight generally make first appearances the next morning.

‘Largest action’

Prosecutor Tony Golik said that the Superior Court is anticipating such a huge number of suspects that they may have to hold two morning dockets Friday.

Golik, who has worked at the prosecutor’s office since 2000, can’t remember another time the court has had to accommodate such an influx in defendants.

“This is the largest action that I can recall,” Golik said.

Golik said his office will meet with federal prosecutors in the coming weeks to decide which defendants to charge locally and which federally.

Laura McVicker of The Columbian contributed to this report.