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James King |
| Governor, DPS Director Roger Vanderpool, and a whole lotta drugs. |
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer acted surprised Tuesday afternoon when she saw what was said to be more than $2 million worth of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana seized in a single bust by the Arizona Department of Public Safety over the weekend.
On Sunday night, a DPS patrolman stopped a commercial truck on State Route 87, about 20 miles south of Payson, for an equipment violation. The two men inside the truck, 38-year-old Albert Chrzaszcz of Surprise and 41-year-old Jayson Lyle Shawd of Mesa, granted the officer permission to search the rig and he found the huge stash.
About 20 pounds of heroin, 110 pounds of cocaine and 300 pounds of marijuana were in the cargo bay of the truck.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” the Governor commented, as she looked at the stockpile of drugs displayed on a table at DPS headquarters. “Drug cartels should get the message that we are making it harder and harder to do business in Arizona.”
Yada, yada.
DPS Director Roger Vanderpool calls the bust “significant and unusual,” because of the sheer amount that was seized.
“Last year we seized 25 pounds of heroin,” he says. “So this seizure alone accounts for almost what we did entirely last year.”
DPS officials concluded the cocaine is from Colombia, while the heroin and marijuana are probably from Mexico. They also say Arizona was not the final destination for the drugs, that they were probably being taken to Northeastern cities like New York and Boston, which have bigger drug markets.
