El Paso deputies find two tons of marijuana

Star-Telegram

El Paso - El Paso County deputies found more than $2 million worth of marijuana Friday after stopping to help a stranded motorist.

Sheriff's spokesman Rick Glancey said about 2,100 pounds of marijuana, packaged in plain brown cardboard boxes and wrapped in plastic and tape, was found in the back of a white 1998 white Chevrolet commercial van that deputies found stranded on the side of the road near Interstate 10 in central El Paso. The driver, 20-year-old Israel Gerardo Munoz, was arrested on a charge of possession of marijuana.

Based on the markings on the stranded van, deputies went to a nearby warehouse where they found another 2,000 pounds of drugs, packaged the same way, Glancey said. Two other full-size vans parked inside in the warehouse, which was otherwise empty.

The drugs seized Friday likely had twice the street value outside of El Paso, Glancey said.