Six men have now been arrested after police caught them unloading over $3.5 million of marijuana outside of a supermarket.
The Asian men were transferring the cannabis from a truck to two smaller vehicles when they were stopped by the DEA.
Police became suspicious of the delivery after detecting a strong odor of cannabis coming from the truck.
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officers found six-foot high stacks of cardboard boxes inside the truck, all filled with marijuana packed in vacuum-sealed packs.
The men, aged between 24 and 53, were collectively carrying between $200,000 and $300,000 in cash when they were arrested outside a Good Fortune supermarket in Queens, New York, at around 1:30am Monday.
DEA special agent in charge James Hunt said: ‘The seizure and arrests surprised us just as much as it surprised the defendants when arrested.
‘However, it shows that law enforcement agents and officers possess the keen ability to spot the things that don’t belong.
‘In this case, the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force spotted and seized over $3.5million worth of marijuana that was destined to be trafficked throughout NYC.’
Weiyang Yao, 47, Yuejiang Zeng, 53 – both from California – Shan Wu Zhang, 30 – from British Columbia, Canada – Duanzhao Zhang, 38, Tong Shun Zhang, 29, and Tong Zhew Zhang, 24, all from Brooklyn, will be charged with first-degree criminal possession of marijuana.
They will be arraigned at Queen’s Criminal Court today. If convicted at a later trial, they could each face up to five-and-a-half years in prison.
