Ohio Bust Nets 2,800 Pounds Marijuana and $1 Million Cash

[Jim Finnel]

Authorities in Columbus, Ohio, seized about 2,800 pounds of marijuana from Mexico with a street value of $3.5 million, as well as almost $1 million in cash in two raids, police said on Saturday.

The marijuana was seized after a six-month investigation and was to be distributed throughout central Ohio, said Columbus Police spokesman Sergeant Rich Weiner.

In the first raid, on January 26, police witnessed large quantities of marijuana being transferred from a South Columbus warehouse to a van, which police intercepted along with two smugglers, Hector Martinez, 36, of Columbus and Luis Miranda, 24, of Phoenix, Ariz. They were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana. In total, approximately 2,055 pounds of marijuana were collected, said Sergeant Rich Weiner.

Police quickly learned that Luis Miranda's brother, Arnaldo Miranda, 25, was involved in the smuggling and intercepted him with $946,000 in cash at a residence he rented.

In the second raid on Friday, the investigation led to the seizure of an additional 800 pounds of marijuana at a home in Columbus.

All three men were arraigned on felony drug charges and are being held at Franklin County jail. Bail for each is set at $500,085 and no court date has been set.


NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: reuters.com
Author: Eric Johnson
Copyright: 2011 Reuters
Contact: Reuters Online Support
Website: Ohio bust nets 2,800 pounds marijuana and $1 million cash | Reuters

 

[new2hydro]

One way to keep illegals off our streets would be to legalize nationwide, if we produce our own here there would be no demand for inferior marijuana from Mexico. This should be another wake up call that all of the representatives have their heads buried in the sand when it comes down to what the people want. It is detrimental that the citizens of this country not allow our voices to be ignored any longer, we need to stand up and yell from the roof tops that the prohibition of marijuana is a losing battle and we're tired of our tax dollars being wasted on the war on drugs, instead we need to take that money and put it into education system and produce intelligent children with futures to look forward to. Take that and add any revenue collected from the taxation from the sales of marijuana and you have a way to make our school systems number one in the world with enough left over from the savings of the end of the war on drugs to protect our country by means of homeland security, and all of our armed forces.

 

[Rommel1l]

Such a waste of time and resources.

I wonder how gratifying it is to be a police officer involved in these raids knowing that your actions are futile.