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July 17 (UPI) -- Drug Enforcement Agency officials said $1 million worth of marijuana was smuggled into the United States in brand new Ford Fusions made in Mexico. The cars were manufactured at a Ford plant in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and then were shipped to a dealership in Ohio, where the marijuana was found, DEA agent Silverio Balzano said.
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Officials believe drug smugglers made some kind of mix-up to allow large quantities of marijuana to get lost. Approximately 32 pounds of marijuana was found in 15 Ford Fusions, officials said.
"Clearly, something went wrong," Balzano said. "Generally speaking, they could take it off anywhere else along the way."
No arrests have been made and an investigation is ongoing.
This isn't the first time Ford Fusions made in Mexico have been used to smuggle marijuana.
According to Alpha News, approximately 1,100 pounds of marijuana was smuggled into the U.S. via 22 Mexican-made Ford Fusions between February and March. In one incident, 80 pounds of marijuana was found in the wheel wells of Fusions headed for St. Paul, Minn.
In a police report, the officer investigating the case spoke to railway police, who come across similar situations on a regular basis.
"Since the vehicles came from Mexico, they believed someone in Mexico placed the marijuana in those vehicles," the St. Paul police officer wrote. "The vehicles would get loaded onto the same railcar. Once the train crossed the border into the U.S., they would stop for inspections. It is at this time that the co-conspirator on the U.S. side would break into the railcars and recover the narcotics.
"The officer advised me this was an ongoing problem for them. It is believed that someone forgot and or missed the opportunity to retrieve their narcotics on the U.S. side of the border."
