Authorities in the United States have seized $1 million worth of marijuana that was hidden in a number of Mexican-made Ford Fusions sitting at an Ohio dealership.
The agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Youngstown office, Silverio Balzano, says that the Fords were built at the company’s factory in Sonora and shipped by rail to Ohio. Investigators are currently looking into who packed the weed into the cars and who the intended recipient was.
CNN reports that the Youngstown dealership found the marijuana between July 7 and July 11 in semi-circular shapes and stuffed into the spare wheel wells. Each package weighed roughly 32 lbs and were found in 15 different Ford Fusions in Ohio and a couple in Pennsylvania.
This isn’t the first time the drug has been found stuffed into the Fusion. Between February and March, approximately 1,100 lbs of marijuana was found in Mexican-built Fusion models at a railroad holding lot in Minnesota. At the time, reports indicated El Chapo may have been involved in the drug trafficking, as his drug cartel controls an area that includes Ford’s Hermosillo factory.
In a statement, Ford said it is working with the FBI and Customs to investigate the trafficking.
“We’re aware of the situation and are taking it very seriously. We are working with the FBI and Customs on an extensive investigation. We have confirmed that this is not happening at our plant or at our internal shipping yards,” Ford said.
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