Santa Fe police seized 251 marijuana plants from the basement garden of a house near downtown Thursday, according to a news release.

Investigators also found seven ounces of psilocybin mushrooms and two pounds of processed marijuana at the home in the 400 block of Washington Street, the release says. Both the processed pot and the mushrooms have a street value of about $20,000, according to the release.

The man who was living at the house, who is possibly the owner, was not home at the time of the bust and has not yet been charged, said Santa Fe Deputy Chief Abram Anaya. That man, a native of Belize whose visa has expired, was arrested in Bernalillo County earlier this week for possession of marijuana, and remains incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque, he said.

Anaya declined to release the man's name Friday. There is no indication anyone else was involved in the cultivation, he said.

The city's street crimes unit received a tip from Bernalillo County detectives about the garden, Anaya said. After watching the house, detectives obtained a search warrant and found the plants — which ranged from sprouts to fully mature with stems that were an inch in diameter — in the hydroponic — or soil-less — garden, according to Anaya and the news release.

"He had a good plantation going," Anaya said. "It was a very good bust."

The seized plants and other drugs remain in evidence, he said. Investigators are trying to figure out whether to charge the man from Belize on the state or federal level, Anaya said.

On Friday, the front door of the home, located just north of the Scottish Rite Temple, looked as if it had been forced open. Glass littered the front steps and the door was in pieces. An older model Saab in the driveway with a flat tire featured a bumper sticker that read: "Gas, Grass or Ass No One Rides For Free."

The street crimes unit, begun two years ago under then-Chief Eric Johnson, consists of a group of officers who can attack specific crime problems as they arise. Most of the narcotics enforcement in Santa Fe is handled through a partnership between city police and the state police-run Region III Narcotics Task Force.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.