The Camden Police Department this week confiscated approximately 550 pounds of illegal marijuana from a rail car fuel tanker as it sat on a local track. The street value of the seizure, authorities say, is estimated at $500,000.
According to a Monday statement from the local police department, law enforcement officials were first alerted to the issue on Sunday, Aug. 12, as three males were spotted on top of a rail tanker car within the Camden city limits.
When officers responded to the scene, they reportedly located a bag containing tools inside and a rope. The items appeared to have been used to enter the tanker car, police said.
Camden Police the following afternoon, Aug. 13, were alerted to a male driving in the area of the same tanker, the statement said. Upon receiving a warrant to search the rail tanker, 22 bundles of marijuana were found inside.
Each tightly packed, rectangular, plastic-sealed bundle contained 25 pounds of marijuana, police stated, equating to the $500,000 street value.
It was not specifically stated whether the tanker was filled with fuel or if the bundles sat in an empty car. However, from the details issued in the Monday evening Camden Police Department media release, at least some gasoline or vapor was present in the tanker as the bricks of illegal narcotics made their way to the area.
“The marijuana has been moved to an undisclosed location because of the volume and having gas residue on the packing,” the statement read.
The Camden News on Tuesday reported the seizure was the largest in the history of the Camden Police Department.
During Camden’s local city council meeting that night, Police Chief Boyd Woody, the newspaper stated, detailed the drug seizure to the local government officials.
The drugs, according to Woody, were determined to have originated from a rail car in Mexico, with Camden as the shipment’s final destination.
The Tuesday police statement did not state whether any arrests have been made in the case.
Note: Camden News and Managing Editor Tammy Frazier contributed to this report.