Posted on 11/11/2007 12:04:00 PM PST by AuntB
CALEXICO, Calif. -- About 8.85 tons of suspected pot worth an estimated $67 million was seized at the Calexico port of entry, federal agents reported Saturday.
The contraband was seized Friday, co-mingled with shipments of flat panel television sets, said David de la Peza of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A tractor-trailer truck was in the Free and Secure Trade entry lane at about 4:20 p.m. Friday when drug-sniffing dogs alerted officers, de la Peza said.
Officers discovered 1,019 large packages containing 17,701 pounds of suspected pot among the TVs.
The accused smuggler is a 25-year-old Mexican and registered participant in the FAST program, he said.
FAST is an agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States to expedite trade. "Low-risk" drivers must submit an application and agree to a security profile.
The cache and tractor-trailer were seized by federal agents, who booked the driver into the Imperial County Jail.
What in the hell is “suspected pot”?
He was a driver.
It is yet to be shown he is a smuggler. Almost no drivers know what they are hauling beyond the bill of lading and the seal restricting entry to the trailer.
There is no indication he is a bad apple. He is a driver.
There is no indication he is a smuggler. There is no indication he knew what he was hauling.
I can end illegal pot smuggling in one easy step. Legalize it and let Marlboro grow it. A similar plan in the 20th century effectively killed the illegal alcohol trade.
Gud points.
"Officers discovered 1,019 large packages containing 17,701 pounds of suspected pot among the TVs." Do you think you'd be driving a truck and not know there was 8 TONS of pot in it?
C'mon!
If he's that dumb he shouldn't be driving!
I should have realized that a truck driver, most of times do not know what is really in their trailer and rely on their paper work.
Unless you stand and watch the trailer being loaded, the driver doesn’t know what’s in there. The driver does NOT open or inspect the contents of the boxes being loaded UNLESS they are edible and he is an owner operator.
A drivers main concern is that the trialer is not over weight. That is something that he will be fined for by the first state scale he pulls onto. How do I know this, 12 years of being a trucker.
Did this Mexican driver get a re-do?
/s
All they are interested in is the total gross weight because that will determine how much of a problem and how fast they can go.
Think on it.... if you were a pot smuggler, wouldn’t it be best to foist the task off on a random driver than take the risk.
There is also an alternative explanation..... there was no pot and no arrest. There was a US Customs press event proclaiming confiscation to worry potential bad guys.
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