http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-numbers.7166200feb03,0,2950219.story
Somewhere, Cheech and Chong are choking on their bongs.
The delivery of more than 3 tons of marijuana went up in smoke over the weekend in what police are saying could be the largest pot bust in Pennsylvania history following a traffic stop on Interstate 81 east of Harrisburg.
That's 6,500 pounds, or roughly the combined weight of two Honda Accords. It's enough to fill more than 800,000 eighth-of-an-ounce bags, a common size for street-level purchases. Police estimate the confiscated dope would have fetched between $10 million and $25 million on the street.
"We have not actually confirmed it, but we believe it's the largest," said Trooper Tom Pinkerton of Troop H in Harrisburg.
Investigators say the apparent record find came after a northbound tractor-trailer blew past the Grantville weigh station in Dauphin County near the Lebanon County border shortly after noon Sunday.
A state trooper conducting commercial vehicle inspections -- all trucks are required to stop at the weigh station when it's in operation -- noticed the 18-wheeler avoided the weigh station and a pursuit followed. During the traffic stop, a trooper realized he may be dealing with more than a summary traffic violation.
"There are a lot of training and procedures taught that enable [troopers] to identify this," said Pinkerton, saying he couldn't comment on what specifically made the trooper suspicious. "All of that led to him discovering the marijuana.
"I'd like to say that every trooper I know has that sixth sense, but you can't rely on that. You rely on training tactics." Pinkerton said the drugs were packaged in bags stored in six wooden crates that measured roughly 4 feet by 4 feet by 7 feet. The crates were hidden behind boxes of plastic foam cups.
Investigators say Eric Emmanuel, 35, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., and Stanley Narcisse, 34, of Winter Garden, Fla., were in the truck, which apparently began its trip on the West Coast. Pinkerton said that because of the ongoing investigation, he couldn't reveal where police believe the truckers were heading.
Emmanuel and Narcisse, facing felony drug trafficking charges, both are being held in Lebanon County Prison under $1 million bail.
Pinkerton said the seized drugs are being held as evidence. "We had to come up with a secure site able to hold this marijuana," he said, adding it will be destroyed after the investigation and subsequent court case.
Deb Casey, secretary-treasurer of East Hanover Township, Dauphin County, where the weigh station is, said there wasn't a lot of talk about the historic bust, which occurred in adjacent East Hanover Township, Lebanon County.
"It was just like, whoa, did you hear about (the bust)?" Casey said.
While it may be the largest bust in the state's history, it was hardly the largest nationally.
In August 2009, authorities in Riverside County, Calif., arrested a trucker hauling 28,000 pounds of marijuana on Interstate 15, according to the Press-Enterprise of Riverside.
Locally, one of the more notable cannabis busts occurred in Allentown when police took 1,200 pounds' worth as much as $8.4 million from watermelon crates at a Jordan Street warehouse in 2004.