Routine traffic stop nets $1m drug bust
A routine traffic stop, a chase through city streets, and a vehicle filled with a pungent aroma led to one of the biggest marijuana busts ever in Boston this week, nearly 800 pounds with a street value of about $1 million, authorities said.
The bust also resulted in the arrest of three men and the disruption of an international drug distribution system that had been operating in the Boston area for some time, according to federal officials.
But police had to rely on more than just fleet feet and sensitive noses to bring down the alleged drug runners.
"There was some luck, yes," said Patrolman Greg Brown, who with partner Mark Bordley made the initial vehicle stop leading to the arrests.
The episode began around 8 p.m. Tuesday at Geneva Avenue and Columbia Road in Dorchester, where Brown and Bordley say they saw a rented
"Usually somebody doesn't run like that unless there's something seriously, seriously wrong," Bordley said.
A chase ensued, with the SUV traveling on the wrong side of the road and running a red light before it stopped at Whitfield and Rosedale streets, where the driver fled and the passenger, Marlon Straw, 32, of Hyde Park, surrendered to police, officers said.
The driver, Robert Hylton, 36, of Dorchester, was caught by Bordley behind a home while trying to scale a fence, police said.
After the men were in custody, Brown and Bordley returned to the SUV, where officers said it was hard not to notice the wooden crate in the rear cargo area. The smell of marijuana "was very strong," Brown said. "To have that amount of marijuana in a vehicle that size, you could smell it."
Police said they also discovered a loaded .40-caliber handgun on the floor of the vehicle.
The crate still had a shipping invoice on it that led police to a warehouse on Lee Burbank Highway in Revere operated by the freight shipping company Airport Express. The invoice indicated that the crate was part of a shipment of four sent from Los Angeles to a Dorchester address.
On Wednesday, investigators went to Airport Express, where employees showed them the three crates remaining in the warehouse. About 15 minutes after federal and local investigators arrived, a man later identified as Ryan Carter, 30, of Somerville, arrived at the warehouse with a 14-foot U-Haul truck and signed for the three crates, officials said. As one crate was being loaded into the rented truck, officers arrested Carter.
Police said Carter lied about his identity and denied having any connection to the telephone number on the shipping labels. The cellphone to which the number on the shipping label belonged was found stuffed between the cushions of the rear seat of the police vehicle Carter had been held in.
Carter told police he had been given the cellphone the previous day by a Hispanic man named O'Malley in Dudley Square in Roxbury. He told police the man had instructed him to pick up the crates and deliver them to the address on the labels. He said he was being paid between $400 and $500 for the job.
Investigators learned through Airport Express invoices that between August 2003 and February 2004, Carter had allegedly signed for seven other crates delivered to Airport Express under various names.
According to invoices obtained by investigators, one shipment arrived March 2 and weighed 1,144 pounds. Another shipment on Feb. 3 weighed 705 pounds, and a Jan. 13 shipment weighed 961 pounds. All of the shipments originated in the Los Angeles area and were destined for addresses in Hyde Park, Medford, and Dorchester.
Straw and Hylton will be charged with trafficking marijuana, unlawful possession of a firearm, and motor vehicle violations by Suffolk County prosecutors, officials said. Carter, a citizen of Barbados, was in the country illegally, according to investigators. He will be prosecuted by the US attorney's office.
At a press conference yesterday in which the confiscated marijuana was displayed for the media, officials from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the US attorney's office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said they believed the suspects were part of an international drug distribution system with ties to Mexico. They said the investigation is continuing.
"The scope of the organization extends beyond Massachusetts," said Rodney Benson, the DEA's assistant special agent in charge. "It extends across the country." He added that the local distribution "cell" was very organized and had apparently been operating in Boston undetected "for some time."
Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.
