ENSENADA - Military authorities announced the discovery of a 300-acre field of marijuana plants south of this city, considered the largest such spread in Mexico’s history, according to press reports.

Had they been harvested and processed, the plants would have yielded an estimated 132 tons of marijuana, the reports said.

The immense field was covered with a black net and hidden amid a field of tomato plants, according to Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mújica, who made the announcement Wednesday.

Army troops of Mexico’s Second Military Zone discovered the marijuana during ground surveillance on July 12 in an area about 1.2 miles from the San Quintín-Guerrero Negro highway.

Duarte said that it was not known which criminal organization was growing the marijuana.

He said that 16 laborers, all from the state of Sinaloa, were detained by soldiers, and dozens more fled.

Authorities estimated that the plants had been growing for about six months.

Alexandra.mendoza@sandiegored.com