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High Lit: Feds Intercept 11 Lb. Pot Delivery At NYC Publisher
By
Garth Johnston
Published Mar 22, 2012
Modified Mar 22, 2012
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Iakov Filimonov / Shutterstock
By
Garth Johnston
Published Mar 22, 2012
Modified Mar 22, 2012
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Forget Mary Jane, when it comes to pot personifications the name of the moment is "Karen Wright." Mere months after 35 pounds of cocaine were accidentally dropped off at the U.N. the feds intercepted two packages on their way to the offices of St. Martin's Press containing 11 pounds of pot. The drugs were destined for a person by the name of "Karen Wright," which seems to be the nom de dealer of somebody at the Macmillan subsidiary.
The Smoking Gun, which revealed the seedy tale yesterday, explains:
The pot parcels, mailed from San Diego, never made it out of California, however. A post office employee contacted postal inspectors after alerting to the distinctive scent of the two packages. According to mailing labels, the boxes were purportedly sent by “ABT Books,” a San Diego firm that listed a return address that investigators determined to be fictitious.
After a drug detection dog alerted to the presence of a controlled substance inside the packages, agents last week secured search warrants to open the boxes. Inside, the marijuana was found under layers of plastic wrap, according to inventory records. The sender had packed the Express Mail parcels with paper towels, Styrofoam chunks, and dryer sheets (which are often used by traffickers in an effort to mask pot odor).
Sadly the feds decided not to worry too much about where the drugs were going and chose not to do a "controlled delivery." Which is a shame, because clearly we all now want to know who Karen Wright really is and why they needed drugs worth an estimated $70,000 (besides the obvious). In the meantime, as Forbes notes, the story has already produced a lovely hashtag game with #potlit. Ganja With The Wind, anyone?
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