By John Larson
MAGDALENA – A tip from the Arizona Highway Patrol resulted in the seizure in Magdalena last week of 648 pounds of marijuana valued at $975,000.
According to a report by Magdalena Marshal Larry Cearley, the semi was carrying the 24 plastic wrapped bundles of marijuana in a section of the tractor-trailer hidden behind several pallets of pistachios.
Cearley’s report stated that the Arizona agency had contacted New Mexico State Police to be on the look out for the white Freightliner headed east on Highway 60.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the truck was pulled over at about 6 p.m. at mile marker 114 east of Magdalena.
The driver, Lincoln A. Kelly, gave Cearley and State Police Officer Steve Carter permission to search the trailer, which contained pallets of pistachios “on the floor one [pallet] high six feet from the door to the middle of the trailer where it was stacked two high.”
The report stated that Cearley and Carter “counted the trailer partitions indicating there was about 10 feet in the front of the trailer that was either empty or had some boxes we could not see.”
Carter crawled to the top of the two stacked pallets and discovered 10 cardboard boxes, the report said. Packed inside those boxes were the plastic bundles containing marijuana.
Kelly was arrested and charged with possession more than 100 pounds of marijuana with intent to distribute – a second degree felony.
If convicted of the charge Kelly could face up to nine years in the prison. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 10 in Socorro Magistrate Court.
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