Md. State Police Help To Intercept $2.3M Worth Of Synthetic Marijuana
WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- Police from four agencies in our region team up to interrupt the distribution of hundreds of pounds of a dangerous synthetic marijuana.
As Mike Schuh reports, the path to a warehouse in Washington, D.C. ran through Maryland.
In D.C., they're talking about synthetic marijuana, also known as spice or K2. Nineteen-thousand hits. Boxes and boxes full. This particular batch was labeled "Bizzaro."
"We are certain that most of this was targeted for the streets of the District of Columbia. So it looks like it was something that was going to be distributed in mostly, if not, exclusively, in the District," police said.
Charging documents show a drug task force saw pallets of the dope waiting to be shipped to a warehouse in D.C.
This bust never would have happened had the Maryland State Police not been able to intercept the shipment in Howard County and test it before it made it to that warehouse in D.C.
Police kept tabs on the shipment, waiting until 33-year-old Siraj Issa and 41-year-old Yenework Abera delivered 14 boxes to a commercial warehouse in northwest Washington. Both men were arrested.
Police say such drugs have contributed to an uptick in violence in the District.
"The synthetic drug problem that we have in the District, which seems to be increasing significantly, is contributing to that violence," said police.
Two-hundred and sixty pounds in all -- a street value of $2.3 million.
The District said this is the largest amount of synthetic marijuana that they have ever confiscated.
The two men arrested live in northwest D.C. and northern Virginia. Police didn't say how those two were linked to Howard County.
