SEQUOYAH COUNTY, Okla. (KFSM) — A semi-trailer carrying 16,000 pounds of marijuana was found near the Arkansas-Oklahoma state line by the 27th Judicial District Drug Task Force and the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office.
Eric Helms with the 27th Drug Task Force said the semi carrying the marijuana was stopped at a weigh station on I-40. Helms says it was a brand new semi-trailer based out of North Carolina with no markings or mandatory DOT (Department of Transportation) numbers on it.
The shipment was coming from hemp farms out of North Carolina.
Investigators had the driver of the semi pulled to the back of the weight station for inspection, and say they ran a Drug Task Force K9 Officer and a Sequoyah County Sheriff's K9 Officer around the truck, both alerted investigators to the drugs. Helms said log books belonging to the semi-trailer seemed to be fake, and driving and stopping log books appeared to be forged.
The driver did not consent to the search, but since the K9 officers alerted investigators about the drugs they opened the back and found a strong odor of marijuana.
46 large bags weighing 250 to 350 pounds each, labeled as hemp, were located inside the semi.
During a filed test investigators said the cannabis tested positive for THC. The DEA spent hours examining the product for THC, and have sent more of the marijuana to a lab in Texas for testing. Hemp is legal, but investigators say the levels of THC found in the shipment were extraordinarily high and not considered hemp.
The driver told investigators he was given the shipment at night and was not aware of what it contained. He has not been arrested since he cooperated with the investigation and it's believed he did not know what was in his shipping container.
Investigators believe the cannabis was being delivered to Colorado according to a billing label.
It is against federal law to ship marijuana across state lines.
