AGENTS SEIZE 2,075 POUNDS OF POT FROM SHIP

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized more than 2,000
pounds of marijuana concealed in a container of clay pottery on a ship
attempting to enter the Port of Charleston, the agency announced this
week.

Mike Balero, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said that on
March 17, officers discovered anomalies in a container while scanning
it with an X-ray device. After further examination, they found 1,440
packages of marijuana that totaled 2,075 pounds and had a street value
of about $1.4 million, he said.

The shipment was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
according to a Monday news release from Customs and Border Protection.
Through interagency coordination, Immigration and Customs officials
arrested five subjects, the release stated.

The release did not give the suspects' names, and calls to Immigration
and Customs were not returned. In the release, Kenneth Smith, special
agent in charge of Immigration and Customs' investigations office in
Atlanta said, "this attempt to traffic more than a ton of marijuana
shows the brazen disregard of the law by these criminals." But he also
stated that the seizure demonstrates how both agencies work closely
together to ensure that ports are safe. Related story

Pam Zaresk, area port director for Customs and Border Protection, said
the shipment originated in Mexico.

Officers in Charleston regularly find contraband coming into the port,
she said. Some of it is narcotics and firearms. But it also includes
items that violate consumer product safety, agriculture and
intellectual property regulations, she said.

Customs and Border Protection enforces laws from 40 different
agencies, she said.

Zaresk said the ship carrying the container with marijuana was
determined to pose a potential risk. Officials screened the container
on-board with a non-intrusive X-ray. That raised further concern, so
the container was moved to the Centralized Examination Station at the
Charleston Freight Station off Clements Ferry Road and scanned with a
more intensive X-ray.

After that, officials opened and searched the container, she said.