Federal agents broke up a marijuana cultivation and hash oil manufacturing operation Thursday at a home near Helix High School.
Investigators with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration served a search warrant at the residence on Harbinson Avenue in La Mesa Thursday morning.
The officers made three arrests and seized about 100 cannabis plants, a significant amount of hash oil and a "sophisticated" apparatus being used to extract the liquid drug, DEA spokeswoman Amy Roderick said.
City firefighters and a county hazardous materials team were called in to de-pressurize the equipment and safely rid it of butane, a compound used in the illegal manufacturing process.
The suspects — identified as Ivo Fedak, Chase Hicks and Matthew Wiles — all live at the home, according to Roderick. Their ages were not immediately available.
