INDIANAPOLIS -- Police who pulled over a pickup truck because its load was blocking the view of a temporary license plate in the rear window discovered it was carrying 900 pounds of marijuana.
“It was piled up in big bags,” said Indiana State Trooper William Etter. “Once you first stopped it, it was obvious - you could smell it.”
The marijuana was compressed into about 900 bricks and wrapped in plastic, police said. The pot nearly filled the bed of the truck, and a drug-sniffing dog responded immediately to the scent, police said.
Police arrested the 21-year-old driver, Apan Gallegos, of Indianapolis, and Jesus Villegas-Ochoa, of Camby following the traffic stop Monday night on the city’s east side. Both men faced preliminary charges of marijuana possession.
Gallegos was being held Tuesday at the Marion County Jail. Villegas-Ochoa was not being held there, however, a jail officer said.
Police said they were unable to determine who owned the truck.