Pot Bust May Be Pa.'s Biggest Ever, Police Say

Marijuana Found In Back Of Tractor-Trailer Worth $10 To $25 Million, Trooper Says

POSTED: 12:27 pm EST February 1, 2010
UPDATED: 6:24 pm EST February 1, 2010

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- What might be the biggest pot bust in state history happened Sunday afternoon on I-81 in the Susquehanna Valley, according to Pennsylvania State police.

State police showed the media part of the marijuana that was recovered. The amount seen here is about 500 pounds. State police said they found 6,000 to 8,000 pounds total in the trailer.

IMAGES: See The Seized Marijuana

"This marijuana has a combined street value between $10 million and $25 million," said Major Huascar River of the PSP at a Monday afternoon news conference. "This could quite possibly be the largest single seizure of marijuana by law enforcement in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

Somewhere between 6,000 to 8,000 pounds of the drug was found in the back of a tractor-trailer on Sunday around 12:30 p.m. It all started when the truck refused to stop at a weigh station, police said. The station had been set up at the Grantville rest stop, where trucks are pulled off the road at unannounced times to be inspected.

However, the tractor-trailer blew by the station and was chased down and stopped by troopers just over the Lebanon County line. Police searched the trailer, and behind some plastic and Styrofoam cup cartons were six large, wooden crates filled with what investigators are calling "high grade marijuana."

The driver and a passenger, both from Florida, were arrested. Eric Emmanuel, 35, and Stanley Narcisse, 34, are now being held in the Lebanon County Prison on $1 million bail each.

The truck has been taken away to an undisclosed location.

Investigators said the truck originated from the western part of the country, but they would not say where it was headed.

Troopers are working to find out more about the shipment and who is responsible for it.

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