Posted on 07/15/2017 12:10:31 PM PDT by Eddie01
The head of the Youngstown Federal Drug Enforcement Administration says a recent marijuana-smuggling operation with ties to Warren is the first of its kind he has seen in this area.
In fact, said Bob Balzano, who runs the local DEA office, the only time he has heard of the method being deployed was in April, when a similar discovery was made in Minnesota.
The marijuana was found last week inside the wheel well for a spare tire in a new Ford Fusion which was manufactured in Sonora, Mexico, at a Ford dealership in Kent, after one of the vehicles was unloaded from a car carrier, Balzano said.
Investigators were then able to find 14 more packages of marijuana in other Fusions, which all came through a rail yard in Warren.
All together, about 14.5 per kilos per car, or 400 pounds of marijuana, was found. It has a street value between $400,000 to $1 million.
The Portage County Sheriff’s Office is also investigating, along with the DEA.
Read more about the case in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.
Question.....
How did the intended recipient get the stuff out of a locked trunk, etc.
How did they know which dealership the car was going to?
The sheer volume of traffic makes it impossible to check every vehicle. Checks are usually random and companies that regularly ship things across begin to be trusted... Cargo trucks are x-rayed and checked for density of areas of suspicion but somehow this must have slipped through.
“How did they know which dealership the car was going to?”
By checking the bill of lading and looking for the final destination. They then installed the spare tire and put the other one in another vehicle. There are no serial numbers on the tires.
twood
Me & my new Ford Fusion... and without a cigarette lighter or ashtray!
“Wasn’t this the plot of the only GOOD Cheech & Chong movie?”
Yeah, but in that movie, the entire body of the vehicle was made out of compressed marijuana and the tailpipe set it “on fire.” The problem for the cops was that they got high following the van so they could arrest C&C!
Well, at least we now understand why Ford likes building cars in Mexico - very profitable, if used for shipping drugs.
It appears that the ones shipped to Michigan are the ones stuffed with drugs. Is this an indication that FoMoCo is in on the deal, and gets a kickback from the drug cartel? No wonder Ford is hellbent on staying in Mexico, to the point of welshing on their deal with Trump and going ahead with the $2 Billion factory down there!
They should rename it the Ford Reefer.
I rented a Fusion once and it was okay. I have to wonder about the build quality if they are doing things like stuffing the cars with drugs when they build them. Hecho en Mexico? I think I’ll pass.
Ohio Ping
yeah right. I remember that cheech and chong movie from early 80s and they were smuggling weed across the border by putting weed in the fiberglass they sprayed the van with. That was the 80s and Im guessing smugglers have become more methodical since then, so you’d expect DEA to be more stringent on border checks as well.
“$0 down, 72 months at 0% financing, $500 Ford Loyalty Bonus, 3 kilos of pot in the trunk. See your local dealer today.*”
(* Restrictions may apply.)
Here’s the problem, America has a heroin epidemic. we need to not only shut the border down via a wall, a big wall and join a legitimate Mexican authority that wants to eradicate the cartels permanently. We need to help them get control of their country and then help them with their oil exports.
I’m telling ya folks it’s the only way
They were checking things from NEW Mrexico....
Nevada.
OHIO PING!!!
Article and comments
Thanks Eddie01 & H/T Pontiac
...and every tenth bag is full of cocaine. Which company will survive? ...
Did not work well for DeLorean.
At least three federal agents, from the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency, videotaped DeLorean allegedly making a $24 million drug deal. Authorities said his motive was a desperate one: trying to keep his troubled car company afloat.
John DeLorean, automobile engineer and executive, is arrested for drug dealing in 1982
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/john-delorean-arrested-drug-dealing-1982-article-1.2402679
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