[CH] Huge Marijuana Bust
R.Solarion - Apollonius.Net (damis@apollonius.net)
Wed, 14 Mar 2001 22:19:42 -0600
Chicago Tribune, 14 March 2001
CHICAGO -- The truck was supposed to be carrying seven tons of jalapeņo
peppers, but Rocco, the drug-sniffing dog, knew immediately that the
produce was not intended for salsa.
Instead, police said they found 14,000 pounds of marijuana hidden behind
two pallets of outdated hot peppers in a semi-trailer parked next to a
Bolingbrook, Illinois, truck stop. The site has become a well-used
transfer station for Chicago-bound drug shipments from the U.S.-Mexico
border.
No arrests have been made, and the truck's driver has not been found,
police said Monday. They believe the truck may have been parked next to
the truck stop on Thursday.
The trailer and tractor belong to a Dallas-area trucking firm, and both are
registered in Texas, police said. The truck's records identify it as
carrying about 14,000 pounds of peppers. No further information was
available on the truck or the firm.
The 175 boxes of marijuana, which authorities had to cart to the Illinois
State Police headquarters warehouse in Springfield because there was too
much to store locally, was valued at $20 million, said Dan Kent, deputy
director of the Illinois State Police.
[COMMENT : Again, one asks/wonders -- what are these establishment types so
afraid of? Why do they keep up this endless campaign against marijuana,
decade after decade? When you really think about it, especially if you
have been a pothead for 30 years, it becomes LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to
understand. I never cease to be amazed, and that is an understatement by
me, if there ever was one! RS]
"That's $20 million in dope that won't go onto our streets and affect our
communitities," he said.
[COMMENT : Again I ask, why are they so paranoid, so afraid, so reluctant
to accept this reality? It is really amazing when you think about it.
Personally, I have not been able to understand this "backwards" attitude
for many years. Whom do these people think that they are kidding?????
They are totally ignorant assholes! REALLY!!! RS]
Investigators found the trailer Friday as they were making a regular patrol
of the area, said Lt. Carl Dobrich, commanding officer of the Narcotics and
Currency Interdiction Team.
Several irregularities drew investigators' attention : The truck was parked
in a lot where it did not belong, Lt. Dobrich said. It was unattended, but
the trailer's refrigeration unit was left running. The Texas registration
also fit the profile of a drug shipment, he said.
The Romeoville Police Department's drug-sniffing dog Rocco was brought in
and indicated that he smelled drugs, police said.
Police searched the trailer and found two pallets loaded with white boxes
of jalapaņos at the end of the truck. Behind the peppers they found the
rest of the 48-foot-long trailer loaded with marijuana, compressed and
shrink-wrapped in bricks of varying sizes and packed in cardboard boxes.
The drug shipment was the second one intercepted in the area this year, Lt.
Dobrich said.