Feds seize 22,000 pounds of pot
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO AND FRAN SPIELMAN Staff Reporters
12-16-10 Seven people were arrested Wednesday on federal drug conspiracy charges after what is believed to be the largest single seizure of marijuana ever in the Chicago area at a south suburban warehouse. The seven were arrested after nearly 11 tons of marijuana were found packed into six railroad cars arriving from Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. The shipment arrived at a Chicago Heights warehouse earlier this month. Photos of press conference at Dirksen Federal Building. They had blow ups pics of the railroad cars and hidden contraband. L-r are : Gary J. Hartwig - Homeland security Inverstigations and States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Al Podgorski - Chicago Sun-Times
Federal agents called the seizure this week of 11 tons of marijuana — touted as the largest ever in the Chicago area — a “great day for the good guys,” but Mayor Daley said such pot busts do little to stamp out illegal drug use.
“America loves drugs and it loves guns,” Daley said Thursday. “They love it. That’s our social ills and that’s our social problem. It’s [an] enormous cost to government, enormous cost to lives. And it’s really a sad comment.”
He made his comments after federal officials Thursday displayed huge photographs of the seized marijuana on the ninth floor of the Dirksen Federal Building. Officials said the pot came from in Mexico about six train cars and arrived in Chicago Heights, hidden in sacks packed with a red pigment used to tint concrete.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents inspected the train cars about a month ago at a Texas border town, and sent in drug-sniffing dogs after becoming suspicious about the cargo, officials said. The cargo was allowed to reach its destination — a warehouse in Chicago Heights — earlier this month so that agents could watch and videotape the drugs being unloaded. Seven people — at least three of whom are U.S. citizens — have now been charged in connection with the drug case, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told reporters.
The drugs, which never reached the streets, have an estimated street value of $22 million.
“This is a great day for the good guys,” said Jack Riley, Special Agent-in-charge of the Chicago division of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “Having served time on the border myself with DEA, this is the way it’s supposed to work. Total cooperation with all the agencies, with an eventual, very, very successful conclusion.”
But Daley told reporters such raids won’t change the American drug culture.
“There’s so much coming in,” Daley said. “We have home-grown pot and, of course, we have pot from foreign countries. It doesn’t matter whether it’s coming from California or any place else. You could do this every day. You could have a headline. That’s how serious the question is.”
Comments Click here to view or make a comment