Officer Sniffs Out Marijuana After Pulling Over Driver

Urdedpal · 03-17-2006, 04:09 PM

Palm Bay police literally sniffed out a suspected drug dealer during a traffic stop on U.S.-1 on Thursday afternoon. Police said it appears the man was trying to dump stems from marijuana plants after harvesting the leaves.

Even though they have the man in custody, they still don't know where the pot growing operation may be based.

Investigators are trying to figure out where the pot was grown. In fact, they were just at a marina down the road looking on a boat, but they didn't find anything. They're still questioning their suspect, Craig Bobbitt, who was pulled over U.S.-1, to see if they can find locate the fruit of the suspected pot grower's labor.

A Palm Bay police officer smelled the marijuana when he pulled over Bobbitt. Inside black garbage bags in the back of the man's pickup truck were dozens of stems, hundreds of seeds from marijuana plants and even left over bags of potting soil.

The officer said the man was going 14 miles over the 50 mile an hour speed limit, just fast enough to catch a patrol officer's eye. Police suspect he was in a hurry to get rid of the remnants of a fairly large marijuana growing operation.

Police said the stems were still fresh and, if the buds were still on them, they would be worth more than $20,000.

Police said the man is from Indialantic and may have been headed home at the time. Police believe the operation was based out of the Sebastian Inlet area. Even though there weren't leaves on the marijuana stems, they believe they have enough evidence to charge the man with cultivating pot.

Copyright 2006 by wftv.com
Officer Sniffs Out Marijuana After Pulling Over Driver - News