COLUMBUS, Ohio – A traffic stop in western Ohio Saturday afternoon led to the second-largest seizure of marijuana in the history of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Troopers seized 2,330 pounds of marijuana, worth more than $11.6 million, after pulling over a 2014 Ford U-Haul with Arizona plates on I-70 in Preble County, northwest of Dayton, patrol spokesman Lt. Jon Payer said.
The largest seizure occurred in 2005 when troopers seized 3,181 pounds of marijuana, also in Preble County, Payer said.
The troopers stopped the U-Haul following too closely just before 2:30 Saturday afternoon. Authorities say neither the driver nor passenger had a valid driver’s license and their story of moving furniture from California to the East Coast did not ring true.
A Preble County Sheriff’s Office drug-sniffing dog alerted authorities to the 84 bundles on board, Payer said
The driver, Mario Arnold Mendoza, 29, of Port Arther, Texas, and Hector Andres Olea-Castro, 30, of Tijuana, Mexico were taken to the Preble County Jail and charged with possession of marijuana, a second-degree felony punishable by up to eight years in prison and fines of as much as $7,500, Payer said.