According to authorities, over 400 pounds of cannabis was found in 15 new Ford cars that were made in Mexico and being shipped to Ohio and Pennsylvania to be sold.
According to Silverio Balzano, the agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Youngstown office, the vehicles were made at the Ford plant in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and were shipped by rail into a CSX yard in Lordstown, Ohio.
It was at an Ohio Portage County Ford dealership where a service department employee stumbled upon a package of the pressed drug that was in a spare tire compartment. The state’s drug task force was called in.
More package were found in the trunks of Ford Fusions near Warren, that were pressed into the shape of the spare tire. There were others also found at northeast Ohio dealerships as well as dealerships in Pennsylvania.
Balzano has said this is the first time he has seen this type of smuggling locally.
“Clearly, something went wrong,” Balzano said. “Generally speaking, they could take it off anywhere else along the way.”
Both Ford and CSX yard have made statements.
“We’re aware of the situation and are taking it very seriously,” a Ford Motor Company spokesman said on Saturday. “We are working with the FBI and Customs on an extensive investigation. We have confirmed that this is not happening at our plant or at our internal shipping yards.”
A CSX spokesman told CNN that the company is “providing all the support we can to the agencies who are investigating this serious crime and will continue to do so.”
