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Delivery mistake yields big pot bust

BALTIMORE, July 5 (UPI) -- Packages containing 198 pounds of marijuana arrived at the wrong address in Baltimore, leading to one arrest and the seizure of 600 pounds of pot, police said.

After FedEx delivered four parcels to an address Tuesday afternoon, the recipient called police upon opening one and finding it contained what investigators called a "bundle of a green plant material," The Baltimore Sun reported Saturday.

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In all, the four packages contained 198 pounds of marijuana, police said.

The discovery prompted an undercover operation in which Baltimore police and Maryland state troopers posed as FedEx employees, the newspaper said, citing charging documents.

A trooper posing as a FedEx agent handled a call the following day from a suspect identified as Richard Gwatidzo, 30, who was inquiring about the status of the delivery. The trooper told the caller the packages would arrive that afternoon.

After Gwatidzo signed for them, police busted him, the charging documents indicated.

Police said a search of two addresses connected to the suspect turned up eight other FedEx packages containing almost 400 pounds of marijuana.

Investigators were trying to determine who sent the packages to Baltimore from Pembroke Pines, Fla., a small community north of Miami, the newspaper said.

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