PORTAGE COUNTY, Ohio — The Portage County Sheriff’s Office announced a massive marijuana bust.
Sheriff David Doak said the Portage County Drug Task Force, along with agents from the DEA Youngstown RO, recovered and seized over 400 pounds of marijuana which was being shipped from Mexico to Northeast Ohio.
The sheriff said members of the drug task force were called to a Ford dealership in Portage County when staff members discovered a suspicious package in the trunk wheel compartment of a new Ford Fusion.
Task force members identified the contents as pressed marijuana. Authorities learned the vehicle was shipped from Mexico to a rail yard in the Warren, Ohio area.
Sheriff Doak said it was there that investigators seized an additional five packages of marijuana from the trunks of new Ford Fusions.
Throughout the week, task force members and agents located and seized nine packages of marijuana from Ford Fusions in Portage, Stark and Columbiana counties, along with one from Pennsylvania.
The sheriff said investigators, with the assistance of Ford Motor Company, were able to determine the cars were manufactured in Mexico and entered the U.S. crossing the Mexican border into Arizona, making their way to Northeast Ohio. At that point, the vehicles, which traveled by train, were dropped off at the rail yard in Warren.
The investigation also revealed that a rail car containing 15 new Ford Fusions had their spare tires removed, replacing them with compressed packages of marijuana resembling a tire.
The narcotics have a street value of more than $1 million.
There have been no arrests at this point. The investigation continues.
credit:fox8.com
