US: Big pot stash in load of oranges in Tulare County

Tulare County detectives found 257 pounds of marijuana in a truckload of oranges bound for Florida and arrested four Tampa men.The arrests stemmed from an investigation of interstate trafficking of marijuana grown in California and sold out of state at a large profit, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department said Thursday.The bust underscores growing law enforcement concerns that drug traffickers are growing pot on the Valley floor under the guise of medical marijuana, then diverting the harvest to the black market. Earlier this month, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims testified in Congress about the trend.Acting on a tip received during a one-month investigation, Tulare County Sheriff's Department detectives staked out a home near Woodlake. Late Monday, they stopped a big-rig truck after it left the property.Detectives found packaged, processed marijuana hidden inside orange crates.

Two men in the truck cab, ages 43 and 47, said they were driving the oranges to Jacksonville and Tampa but didn't know about the marijuana. Crime and courts coverage Two other men, both age 36, soon left the home and were stopped. Inside the home, detectives found 75 pounds of packaged marijuana -- identical to the marijuana in the orange crates, according to the Sheriff's Department -- vacuum sealers, scales and a handgun.The four men were booked into the Tulare County Main Jail.The wholesale price of processed marijuana in California is about $1,200 per pound, but the Florida price is $4,000 per pound, the Sheriff's Department said. Because the street price may be as high as $6,000 per pound, the 332 pounds seized in the bust would be worth about $1.9 million in Florida, the department said.The case is under investigation.

Source: fresnobee.com