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1,000 pounds of pot seized near Mulga
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
CAROL ROBINSON
News staff writer

Jefferson County sheriff's deputies netted a second major drug bust in less than a week when they found more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana in the woods over the weekend.

Patrol deputies discovered the drugs - worth an estimated $2 million - in the woods Saturday after someone called to report suspicious activity in Mulga.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Randy Christian said a resident called deputies, saying there was a tractor-trailer rig in the woods just off of Slope Drive, and there was no good reason for it to be there.

Deputies found the truck and pulled it over. Inside the cab were two men, and several bags of marijuana. Investigators retraced the truck's tire tracks which led them to cardboard boxes of marijuana simply left in the woods.
"I'm sure it was set up quickly for a dealer to come in and retrieve it," Christian said.

Authorities charged Olimpio Monzon, 42, of Hialeah, Fla., and Walfrido Caballero, 36, of Miami, with trafficking marijuana. Both men are being held in the county jail without bond. Christian said authorities believe the drugs were delivered to Mulga from Mexico.

The bust came just days after sheriff's deputies confiscated a record 2,000 pounds of marijuana valued at $4.1 million during a traffic stop on Interstate 20 near Leeds.

"The difference is in the bust Thursday, those drugs were just passing through," Christian said. "This marijuana was meant to go to the streets of Jefferson County.
"I think the neatest thing is we've cost some drug dealer out there at least $2 million and we're pretty happy about that."

E-mail: crobinson@bhamnews.com