CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A North Carolina drug bust by federal agents yielded 3,388 pounds of marijuana smuggled from Texas, a criminal complaint in federal court said.
Seven men were charged Wednesday with conspiracy to distribute marijuana after agents seized marijuana following surveillance of suspicious activity in Charlotte on Jan. 20, the Charlotte Observer reported.
The men arrested and charged are Donaciano Aguirre-Ramos, Oscar Garza, Roberto Alonzo Robledo, Genaro Yoc-Hernandez, Saul Gonzales-Andrade, Carlos Buendia-Gallegos and Martin Palomo.
The agents followed a van leading a truck with Texas license plates to an automotive shop, where, allegedly, the men worked all night preparing the marijuana, the Observer reported.
When a van left the shop's garage early the next morning with its headlights off, surveillance units pulled the van over, the newspaper said.
Two thousand pounds of marijuana in plain view were in the van, officials said, and when a second van started to leave the shop, agents stopped it, too.
The pot was bundled into a total of 252 bales, the Observer said.
