Marijuana smuggler nabbed at ag inspection station

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  • More than 43 pounds of marijuana were confiscated from a Michigan produce truck at an ag inspection station in Hamilton County on Saturday night. (COURTESY)
    More than 43 pounds of marijuana were confiscated from a Michigan produce truck at an ag inspection station in Hamilton County on Saturday night. (COURTESY)
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Vera
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WHITE SPRINGS — It wasn’t your typical produce being trucked into Florida over the weekend.

Rather, when officers with the Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement inspected the Michigan produce truck around 11:40 p.m. Saturday at Ag Inspection Station 9B on Interstate 75, they found more than 40 pounds of marijuana being smuggled into the state.

According to an OALE release, when the white refrigerated trailer pulled into the station, Officer Joe Watson asked the driver Reinaldo Vera Guevara, a 44-year-old from Homestead, what he was hauling.

The release said Vera’s paperwork indicated the trailer was produce from Michigan headed to Sunrise.

When the officer asked to further inspect the load, a large, black garbage bag began falling out of the trailer as the cargo door opened.

The release states Vera told the officer he didn’t know what was inside the bags.

When Watson cut into the bag, he saw vacuum-sealed packages of green leafy substance inside.

The first garbage bag, according to the release, contained 20 packages of marijuana that weighed a total of 22.175 pounds. A second garbage bag contained 19 packages weighing a total of 21.09 pounds. Total, the truck contained 43.625 pounds of marijuana.

Vera was charged with trafficking in marijuana and smuggling marijuana into the state.