I think somebody was trying to make jalepeno marijuana cookies, not salsa. Frank ----- Original Message ----- From: "R.Solarion - Apollonius.Net" <damis@apollonius.net> To: <chile-heads-digest@globalgarden.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2001 11:19 PM Subject: [CH] Huge Marijuana Bust 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 Instead, police said they found 14,000 pounds of marijuana hidden behind two pallets of outdated hot peppers in a semi-trailer parked next to a Bolingbrook, Illinois, truck stop.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.