Employees of the Ford Motor Company uncovered 277 pounds of packaged marijuana hidden on a cargo train carrying new vehicles from the company’s manufacturing plant in Mexico to a rail yard outside of Detroit this week. Curiously, the smuggling bust is the third time law enforcement officials have found cannabis in factory-fresh Ford products this year alone.
According to USA Today, workers found the weed while unloading cars in Woodhaven, MI and immediately alerted authorities. No one has been arrested, but the case is currently being handled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations agency.
After the discovery, Ford released a cookie-cutter statement, but refused to comment any further.
“We are taking this very seriously.” The statement reads. “We are working closely with a number of law enforcement agencies on this investigation, including the FBI, Customs, Department of Homeland Security and local police. We cannot comment further as this is an active investigation.”
What the representative failed to mention, though, is that earlier this month 15 Ford Fusions on their way from Mexico to Ohio were found to be carrying 400 pounds of cannabis, and that earlier this year cops in Minnesota uncovered over 1,000 pounds of pot in a completely separate shipment of Fusions distributed throughout the MidWest. In both of the earlier instances, the weed was pressed and packed into the vehicles’ spare tires.
Investigators tasked with cracking the first Ford smuggling case posited that the cars were most likely packed by cartel workers moonlighting as factory employees. Still, no arrests have been made in any of the busts and the cases all remain open.
With three different shipments stopped on the American side of the border but no one behind bars, the question still remains – how many Fords have made it over the border with their cargo unchecked?
