Bell Peppers and Pot: DPS Finds 5,000-Pound Weed Stash on Truck Near Nogales

The Arizona Department of Public Safety should open a farmer's market. This morning, the agency told us about a truck driver busted with 508 pounds of pot hidden with watermelons. A few minutes ago, DPS announced it had made an even bigger produce-related seizure on Monday: More than 5,000 pounds of marijuana...

By Ray Stern

May 8, 2009

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The Arizona Department of Public Safety should open a farmer's market.

This morning, the agency told us about a truck driver busted with 508 pounds of pot hidden with watermelons. A few minutes ago, DPS announced it had made an even bigger produce-related seizure on Monday: More than 5,000 pounds of marijuana hidden on a truck near Nogales among a shipment of bell peppers.

Troopers arrested the truck driver, a 34-year-old Mexican national. Although the pot catch was literally in the tons, it wasn't a DPS record, says the agency's spokesman, Bart Graves. But it's close. the DPS once discovered 6,000 pounds in a single seizure, Graves says.

Next week, the cartels will probably move on to bread, cereals, and pasta.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.