Man from British Columbia arrested for hauling drugs in cattle trailer
SUMAS, Wash. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Sumas port of entry seized 1,746 pounds of high grade marijuana concealed within the floors of a cattle trailer on Feb. 17 and arrested Edwin Roy Fuller, 39, of Langley, British Columbia.
Fuller, a commercial truck driver, arrived at the port importing a load of beef cattle destined for Stanwood, Wash., when he was selected for an intensive inspection.
Didn’t look right
The cattle were off loaded and the trailer was examined using a gamma X-ray imaging device that discovered inconsistencies in the lower and upper decks of the trailer. Officers then entered the trailer and immediately noticed a space discrepancy in the interior, indicating the possibility of a built up compartment in the floor.
Officers scraped off the natural byproduct of cows to unbolt false panels that concealed hundreds of plastic bags of marijuana beneath.
Big money
The drugs, known as “BC Bud,” a highly potent form of marijuana cultivated in British Columbia, Canada, and can sell for $3,500-$6,000 a pound in the United States.
At first the bags of marijuana were tossed from the trailer into a few evidence boxes that were quickly overwhelmed by the cascading flow of seized contraband until a large mound of bags was formed on the ground beside the trailer.
Eventually, all the marijuana was packaged into 69 large boxes that had to be placed back into the cow trailer for transportation to a secured repository vault.
Into custody
Fuller was taken into custody on site by officers and turned over to agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
