By Theresa Braine
New York Daily News
BEAUFORT COUNTY, N.C. — Police in North Carolina are investigating after a tip led them to unearth nearly 150 pounds of methamphetamine embedded in a load of landscaping paving stones.
A canine sniffed out narcotics in the pallets containing the stones in Pantego, N.C. , about 50 miles east of Greenville , the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Friday. When smashed open, the hexagonal stones turned out to be hollow and contained a same-shaped container holding 800 grams of crystal meth.
“Investigators unloaded all the pallets and a total of 84 stone pavers were found, each containing 800 grams of crystal methamphetamine,” the sheriff’s office said. “As a result of the investigation, at total 67 kilos (148 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine was seized.”
Arrests in neighboring Pitt County a month earlier had led police to the pavers. On Jan. 16 the Greenville Regional Drug Task Force had arrested two people during a traffic stop that yielded about 60 pounds of crystal meth with an estimated street value of $500,000, that agency revealed earlier this month. Task force officers arrested Ulises Villela Lopez and Ismael Villela Sandoval , both 40, who worked with a Mexican drug cartel, authorities said at the time. They were held on $4 million bond.
A month later, the Valentine’s Day seizure amounted to 148 pounds; cops didn’t estimate a street value for that batch. Authorities are now asking for the public’s help in the most recent seizure or any other crimes as the investigation continues.
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