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More than 1,000 pounds of pot seized from business

Suspect held after 1,000 pounds of marijuana seized

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By Michael D. Pitman, Staff Writer Updated 10:08 AM Tuesday, November 3, 2009

FAIRFIELD — Federal agents said they arrested a Cincinnati-area man after a drug bust at a local business Monday, Nov. 2, that netted more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana.

The bust occurred shortly before 11 a.m. after Drug Enforcement Agents executed a search warrant at Azteca Tile and Marble on Constitution Drive. That was when a man tried to move two crates with marijuana inside, said Russ Neville, Cincinnati DEA resident in charge.

The marijuana has a street value of about $1.5 million, according to Local 12 WKRC. The suspect’s identity and the charges he faces were not available Monday night.

Neville said a couple of weeks ago Houston DEA agents were checking shipping companies and came across some packages addressed from Pharr, Texas, Neville said. Three packages were to be shipped to Ohio – two to Fairfield and one to Toledo.

Before delivering the crates, Cincinnati DEA agents opened the one bound for Toledo, Neville said. Nearly 400 pounds of marijuana was inside.

Agents did not open the crates designated for Fairfield. Opening and resealing them would have been detected, Neville said.

“The package that was going to Toledo was the exact same style crate, addressed the same way, the same type of handwriting, same shipper,” Neville said.

The Butler County sheriff’s deputies helped conduct surveillance on Azteca — which Neville said is believed to be a false company — prior to delivery of the crates.

“When the delivery truck gets there, (someone) gets a fork lift and brings it out of the business,” he said. “He unloads the two crates and he puts them into a van. When he just gets ready to pull off, we arrest him right there in the parking lot.”

Shipping manifests show 19 crates since June have been delivered to Fairfield. Neville said the company was also shipping similar crates to Georgia and other areas of Texas.

“This is definitely an organized shipper coming off the southwest border,” he said.

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