Over 340 pounds of marijuana destined for UK seized from Philadelphia suburb shipping facility
More than 340 pounds of marijuana destined for the United Kingdom was seized from an international shipping facility in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The federal agency says two separate seizures confiscated 343 pounds of marijuana shipped from multiple addresses in California to the U.K. According to the CBP, seizures had a combined street value of $1.5 million.
Last Wednesday, CBP agents intercepted 25 containers of marijuana weighing 132 pounds and 4 ounces. Then, last Friday, 52 more containers of marijuana weighing 210 pounds and 12 ounces and 2 pounds and 5 ounces of hashish were seized.
While recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states, weed remains illegal at the federal level. Federal law prohibits transporting marijuana across state lines or exporting it out of the country.
The CBP says the seizure came within days from federal agents confiscating 170 pounds of weed from California headed to the U.K.
Cleatus Hunt, the CBP's area port director for the Area Port of Philadelphia, said in a news release the agency continues to "seize an unprecedented number of illicit export parcels of marijuana, which illustrates both the value and the threats presented by the global marketplace."
Consumers around the world can essentially get whatever they want and from wherever they want at the price that they want to spend, even if the product violates the export or import nation's laws or whether the product poses a health and safety threat to consumers," Hunt added in the news release.