OFFICERS SEIZE 349 POUNDS OF MARIJUANA

Eastern Kansas Criminal Interdiction Task Force Officers Tom Johnson and
Wally Long were surprised Tuesday afternoon when they found 349 pounds of
marijuana during a traffic stop that they made on Interstate 35, just east
of Beto Junction.

The two officers, who had been patrolling the interstate, stopped a 1992
Ford Bronco that had a dragging tailpipe. The driver was a 32-year-old white
female and her passenger was a 36-year-old white male. The vehicle, which
had New Mexico tags, was northbound on I-35.

"After talking to the driver and the passenger, we felt that there was some
other type of criminal activity occurring," said Johnson. The officers asked
for the driver's consent to search the vehicle and she refused. The officers
told her that she was being detained until a K-9 police dog could be
summoned to do a canine sniff around the vehicle.

"I asked the passenger to step away from the vehicle and patted him down for
weapons," explained Johnson. I felt what I believed to be a bag of narcotics
in his pocket. When I asked him what it was, he said it was marijuana." A
subsequent search of the vehicle revealed 349 pounds of marijuana that were
placed in new suitcases and covered up with a blanket in the back of the
Bronco.

"It was sitting right there in plain sight," said Johnson. "In fact, my
partner (Long) saw it when he walked back to his car after talking to the
driver."

The driver and passenger were both arrested, the marijuana was seized and
weighed. "The passenger originally told us, immediately, that he had 262
pounds," said Johnson. "Upon weighing it, it was actually 349 pounds. The
source he received the marijuana from was obviously shorting him a little
bit of money and did not tell him that there was that much in there. He was
getting a percentage of money for the delivery based on the weight."

The suspects left New Mexico Monday morning, picked up the marijuana in El
Paso, Texas, and was taking it to Kansas City, Kan. Johnson said that the
suspects refused to cooperate further with them.

"We don't want the mule," said Johnson. "We want the big man. We were hoping
they would agree to go ahead and make the delivery and then we could arrest
the drug dealer."

Johnson said that the male suspect told him that when he saw the officers'
lights, he knew they had been caught. He told his girlfriend, who was
driving, that they were going to prison before the officers had even
approached their car.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Kansas City assisted the
officers. They took custody of the suspects and the marijuana. "Since the
suspects had more than 100 pounds of marijuana, they will be federally
indicted," explained Johnson.

The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic's shop where the officers went
through the vehicle. "This is what we call a 'gimme,' said Johnson. "This
was just sitting there and my partner saw it. This was so obvious. It was
pretty simple."

Johnson said that it is their goal to stop as many vehicles as they can for
as many violations as they can and then look for clues that narcotics might
be present. Once they make a stop, they hope to smell the odor of narcotics.

"With that much dope in there, 349 pounds, you're talking about a lot of
odor there. We could smell it. When I got the passenger out, he smelled like
he had been laying in marijuana for a week, taking a bath in it. Of course
it didn't help him that he had raw marijuana in his pocket. We stopped them
for probable cause, a tailpipe violation, and once you get that started, you
just look for clues," Johnson said.

Johnson estimated that the wholesale value of the seizure was $210,000. The
suspects said that they were supposed to be paid $20,000 for transporting
the drugs.

According to Johnson, this type of seizure is not that rare. "We're making
seizures like this at least once a month in Coffey and Osage Counties along
I-35," explained Johnson. "That's all we do. That's what the task force
does. We are out there to take the drugs off the streets. When we aren't
working meth lab investigations or undercover operations, we do
interdiction.

Johnson said that most of the seizures are not made public because there are
usually on-going investigations involving the crime. This one, however is
different. "Because they were unwilling to cooperate, this one is a done
deal," Johnson explained. "It's not going to go any further as far as
actually making a controlled delivery. They aren't going to help us. A grand
jury will be impaneled and they will eventually be indicted. This is kind of
a dead-end right now and the public needs to know that Coffey County and the
task force is out trying to keep dope off the streets. I know that the 349
pounds of dope we took off I-35 Tuesday is not going to go to some kids in
Coffey County."

The Eastern Kansas Criminal Interdiction Task Force is federally funded by a
four-year federal grant, administered by the State of Kansas. It pays 100
percent for one officer from each of four counties, Woodson, Coffey, Osage
and Greenwood, to perform drug-related tasks. The grant will expire at the
end of June 2005.

Johnson knows the benefits the task force offers to the four counties and
hopes that funds will be found to continue to support the task force. "I
hope that we have shown that we are an important asset to the people of
Coffey County, that we are actually trying to make a difference out here,
and that we are putting drug dealers in prison," said Johnson.

"Luckily, we have a great prosecutor, Doug Witteman, who is an excellent
'hell fighter' for us. He is sending these people to prison for making meth
and hauling dope and they are getting stiff sentences from Doug Witteman and
the court. We have an excellent court system here. It is the best court
system I've been in with the best judges and attorneys I've worked with.
Hopefully, we will continue to make a difference in Coffey County."