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Officers make $1.36 million bust
Two arrested after 560 pounds of pot discovered in tractor-trailer
By Jennifer Menster
Record Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 13, 2005


HICKORY - Law officers prevented more than 500 pounds of marijuana from hitting the streets of Catawba County early Saturday.

Hickory police patrol officers stopped and searched a tractor-trailer at Speedy Mart on Fairgrove Church Road. Inside the 18-wheeler was approximately 560 pounds of marijuana. The street value of the drug is $1.36 million, said Hickory Police Sgt. Bryan Adams.

Investigators believe the drug was going to be distributed in Hickory and the Catawba Valley area, Adams said.

The truck belonged to a company from McAllen, Texas, near the Mexico border, Adams said. Investigators believe the marijuana was from Mexico.

Police arrested Velma Eunice Cruz, 44, of Von Ormy, Texas, and Alexander Campbell III, 35, of Alamo, Texas, and charged each with felony trafficking in marijuana by possession and felony trafficking in marijuana by transportation. They are in the Catawba County Detention Center on a $1 million secured bond.

Agents from Hickory and Long View police departments and Catawba County sheriff’s deputies contributed to the bust. The officers are part of the Catawba Valley Criminal Enterprise Task Force.

The officers found the marijuana at the nose of the trailer behind pallets of automotive parts, Adams said. The truck driver told officers he was on his way to Morganton. Officials would not release the name of the trucking company.

The marijuana was wrapped in a clear plastic, a gel substance - to try to kill the marijuana smell - and black tape. Officers found 29 bundles of the drug.

Saturday’s bust was one of the county’s biggest in years, Adams said.

The investigation is continuing.

jmenster@hickoryrecord.com | 322-4510 x5409 or 304-6916