U.S. SEIZES 11 TONS OF POT FROM MEXICO; CHARGES 7

CHICAGO-A federal sting that began last month in a Texas rail yard
culminated Thursday in charges against seven men for allegedly
smuggling 11 tons of pot into a warehouse near here.

Federal authorities said they confiscated 21,800 pounds of marijuana
after six rail cars from Mexico delivered it to a warehouse in Chicago
Heights, Ill. They said the drug had a street value of $22 million and
was the largest known marijuana seizure in Chicago-area history; the
prior record appears to have been an 8,000-pound interception in the
early 2000s.

The seizure comes a month after federal authorities confiscated 25
tons of pot in San Diego, which authorities said was one of the
largest ever there.

Officials declined to comment on whether an organized crime cartel was
behind the shipment or whether other arrests might be
forthcoming.

The latest sting began on Nov. 17 in the rail yards of Eagle Pass,
Texas, according to a 74-page complaint filed Thursday in federal
court in Chicago. With the help of drug-sniffing canines, U.S. Customs
and Border Protection agents found the pot loaded on the rail carsin
bundles marked "TITANIUM PIGMENTS OR," the complaint said. Each bundle
was "encrusted in a thick layer of fine red masonry pigment dust," the
U.S. Justice Department said.

Documents attached to the marijuana shipment said it came from a
company in Jalisco, Mexico, and was bound for an Illinois company
called Earth Minerals Corp., said federal authorities, adding that
they could find no public records of an Illinois company with that
name.

To catch the shipment's recipients, authorities established a task
force representing various federal, state and local agencies, along
with the Union Pacific Railroad Police Department. While keeping the
shipment under surveillance as it rambled north toward Chicago, the
task force established "court-authorized video recording" inside the
warehouse where it was destined. So large was the haul that four
people using fork lifts took four days to move it from the rail cars
into the warehouse.

Three of the seven arrested were American citizens and the others were
of undetermined nationality, authorities said. The defendants are
[name1 redacted], 31 years old; his father, [name2 redacted], 63;
[name3 redacted], 47; [name4 redacted], 54; [name5 redacted], 24;
[name6 redacted], 20; and [name7 redacted], 24.

Federal authorities said conspiring to distribute marijuana carries a
mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum
sentence of life in prison and a $4 million fine.

"It's a great day for the good guys," said Jack Riley, special agent
in charge of the Chicago office of the federal Drug Enforcement
Agency, saying the officers involved worked round the clock over the
holidays, "away from their families."

The defendants will remain in prison pending a preliminary hearing
Tuesday.

"I'm sure all the defendants are entering pleas of not guilty," said
Scott Frankel, the court-appointed attorney for Mr. [name4 redacted].
Mr. Frankel said he had not yet met with his client, whom he described
as a non-U.S. citizen who speaks no English.

Donald Young, court-appointed attorney for Mr. [name6 redacted], said
his client, who was born in Puerto Rico and lives in Chicago, would
plead not guilty.