Huge pot stash seized from Jamaican nationals
Authorities yesterday announced the arrests of two Jamaican nationals living in Philadelphia who they said were responsible for moving more than $1 million of marijuana from Texas to Philly.
Authorities yesterday announced the arrests of two Jamaican nationals living in Philadelphia who they said were responsible for moving more than $1 million of marijuana from Texas to Philly.
The men, both of whom were arrested in Delaware County last week, were identified as Loverture McCarthy, 36, and Courtenay Garrick, 35, both of Philadelphia.
McCarthy is an alleged marijuana dealer in Houston who smuggles drugs from Mexico to Texas for redistribution in the U.S., Attorney General Tom Corbett said at a news conference at the Bureau of Narcotics Investigation office in Philadelphia.
McCarthy and Garrick were detained July 17 after police stopped Garrick's rented truck in Folcroft and searched a suspicious box in the trunk, Corbett said.
Inside the box, Corbett said, cops found two large duffel bags containing 221 pounds of pot with an estimated street value of more than $1 million.
Corbett said he believed that the drugs had come from Houston.
McCarthy and Garrick are being held in the Delaware County Prison in Thornton in lieu of $750,000 cash bail. They are charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana, criminal conspiracy, corrupt organizations and related charges.
McCarthy is in the U.S. illegally, Corbett said.
Narcotics agents have been investigating the alleged trafficking of marijuana from Houston to Philadelphia since late May, Corbett said.
"We're happy, because not only do you get the drugs off the streets, but the residual effects - stabbings, shootings, murders - were stopped," Folcroft Police Chief Robert Ruskowski said at the news conference. He stood behind two enormous stacks of the drug, which emitted a strong odor that permeated the room.
It was the second large seizure of marijuana in less than a month.
On June 26, agents seized approximately 253 pounds of marijuana, also with an estimated street value of more than $1 million, Corbett said. The pot was packaged in green-patterned paper and black plastic in four large boxes. Corbett said no charges have been filed in that case, and he released no further details. *
