Authorities discover 30 tons of marijuana, border tunnel.

[Ducimus]

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- U.S. authorities have discovered 30 tons of marijuana that were part of a smuggling operation using a tunnel under the California-Mexico border, officials said Wednesday.

The 600-yard tunnel -- which features a rail system, lighting and ventilation -- connects a warehouse in Tijuana with one in the Otay Mesa industrial area of San Diego..



http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/03/san.diego.border.tunnel/index.html?hpt=T1

[Gerald]

Some engaged in much other things than banal polls, some want a real nice finish to the year, as long as they do not get caught, :D

[AngusJS]

The 600-yard tunnel -- which features a rail system, lighting and ventilation -- connects a warehouse in Tijuana with one in the Otay Mesa industrial area of San Diego.Ok, some people are taking this Minecraft thing too far.

[krashkart]

Ok, some people are taking this Minecraft thing too far.

That brings a whole new meaning to the word "creeper". :O:

[Gerald]

:har:

[the_tyrant]

Ok, some people are taking this Minecraft thing too far.

:):DL:D:haha::har::rotfl2::dead:

[Jimbuna]

Ok, some people are taking this Minecraft thing too far.

LOL :DL

[Gerald]

Ok, some people are taking this Minecraft thing too far.

:haha:

[Sailor Steve]

Well, drugs have always been considered part of the underground culture.

It also brings new meaning to the old term "Underground Railroad".

[August]

If California had passed pot legalization I wonder if it would have made a difference on the street price of that 30 tons.

[Platapus]

We need to invest in more seismic sensors for the borders. :yep:

[August]

We need to invest in more seismic sensors for the borders. :yep:

Heck yeah. If that tunnel can can handle that much hootch, what else could it be used for?

[gimpy117]

30 tons?! :o thats like a building full

[Platapus]

30 tons?! :o thats like a building full

That's 960,000 ounces! or 27,215,542 grams. Assuming short ton.

Assuming the "average" joint being about 0.5 to 0.75 grams that makes this one haul equal to 36.2 to 54.4 million "average" joints.

With MJ running anywhere between $5.00 and $15.00 per gram (East Coast) depending on the source and the strength this one haul is equal to about

$136,000,000 to $408,000,000 Take the average and that is almost a third of a BILLION dollars! This one shipment. :yep:

Smuggling MJ is still big business. :yep:

[Jimbuna]

Smuggling MJ is still big business. :yep:

And very profitable by any interpretation :o

[Buddahaid]

I wondered where that went. Been looking for days! :doh::88)

[krashkart]

Now the real question:

What is the street value in family-size boxes of Pop Tarts? :O:

[Platapus]

Here is an almost interesting story.

There I was no Shi... uh this is a true story.

I was EOD at Hill AFB, UT. In 1982 we had the largest single air shipment of MJ to come into Utah. It was a four engine cargo aircraft C-54/DC-4. I think the total amount was about 7-10 tons.

It landed in the Utah desert and the DEA popped up and probably killed everyone. Now Utah has a problem. How does one dispose of a few tons of MJ?

Cant bury it, no oceans to dump it. Hmmm what to do.. what to do.

Why not burn it!

Who has the capability of burning tons of MJ in a secure manner? EOD. We had an unlimited limit burn area. So after the mountain of paperwork, which greatly exceeded the amount of MJ, was completed, DEA delivered the cargo to one of our burn pits.

Under the watchful eyes of DEA, we had to bust apart and spread the MJ according to our burn procedures. This took days to do. Those poor DEA guys had to camp out there 24/7 (sucks to be DEA).

Fortunately, I was on one of the teams busting and spreading so it was not too bad. After a while the smell gets you sick, but we were exposed to worse stuff doing burns.

The next team went out the following week for the actual burn. In order to make sure the burn was consistent, we had to have people in the burn pit with long handled rakes to make sure there were no dead zones.

These poor chumps were standing in the middle of burning MJ and Diesel. Now realize that as EOD not only did we have some of the normal clearances, we, at that time, also were under the PRP program as we handled nukes. This meant that your record had to be squeeky clean -- no past drug use at all!

So these chumps were exposed to high levels of MJ and spent the time (3 days for the burn) barfing.

To add insult to injury, because they were exposed to a known supply of MJ, they were used in an Air Force/DOD field experiment on how long MJ stays in the body. Since they knew these guys did not use MJ off duty, they were a pretty good test case for how long MJ stays.

As a "reward" for helping the DEA out with the burn, these guys were subjected to daily urine and blood tests for MONTHS. And to boot, they were decertified (without prejudice) from Nuclear Surety and they lost their PRP status. With the thanks from a grateful government. :stare:

When their system was "clean", they were re-certified. At least they could brag that they got decertified for MJ and they got their jobs back. :D

But daily blood tests for months gotta stynk. :down:

I was so lucky that my team did not do the burn. Sooo lucky.

[Sailor Steve]

That's 960,000 ounces! or 27,215,542 grams. Assuming short ton.

Assuming the "average" joint being about 0.5 to 0.75 grams that makes this one haul equal to 36.2 to 54.4 million "average" joints.

With MJ running anywhere between $5.00 and $15.00 per gram (East Coast) depending on the source and the strength this one haul is equal to about

$136,000,000 to $408,000,000 Take the average and that is almost a third of a BILLION dollars! This one shipment. :yep:

Smuggling MJ is still big business. :yep:
And think of the money the government could have made on the taxes, if it was legal, as opposed to the money they spend trying to stop it.

I wondered where that went. Been looking for days! :doh::88)
:rotfl2:

Misplaced...lemme see, how many baggies?

Now the real question:

What is the street value in family-size boxes of Pop Tarts? :O:
:rotfl2::rotfl2:

Or Doritos? Man, them's some serious munchies! :D

[Penguin]

That's 960,000 ounces! or 27,215,542 grams. Assuming short ton.

Assuming the "average" joint being about 0.5 to 0.75 grams that makes this one haul equal to 36.2 to 54.4 million "average" joints.


thanks for the calculations, when you break it down to numbers of joints it doesn't seem this much - one spliff for every californian :cool:
Seriously, I think this amound is a two-week supply, maximum.



With MJ running anywhere between $5.00 and $15.00 per gram (East Coast) depending on the source and the strength this one haul is equal to about

$136,000,000 to $408,000,000 Take the average and that is almost a third of a BILLION dollars! This one shipment. :yep:

Smuggling MJ is still big business. :yep:

Yes, but this is the same calculation the authorities and the media do: calculating the value by multiplying the price of 1 gram times the weight. As in most consumer goods, the wholesale value is much less. In fact the difference between the wholesale price and the sum which the end consumer of small portions has to pay, is way much bigger than in legal goods.

[Platapus]

Absolutely, and we have not addressed cutting the MJ to increase profits either. These figures are just generalities used to help visualization.

[DarkFish]

If California had passed pot legalization I wonder if it would have made a difference on the street price of that 30 tons.Well, I can give you the Dutch prices to have some idea...
Around here you can easily get weed for something like 3 to 5 euros a gram (4 to 7 dollars).

Also we Dutchmen put much more weed in our joints than you American woosies:O:

[FIREWALL]

HEY !!! :stare: What the he!! is going on ? I had 40 tons in that tunnel. :-?

DAMN California will do anything to balance their budget. :haha:

[Gerald]

It seems that "some" here is very up to date on how prices are on the market, :O:

[Penguin]

Well, I can give you the Dutch prices to have some idea...
Around here you can easily get weed for something like 3 to 5 euros a gram (4 to 7 dollars).


And the price nearly doubles across the border... :wah:

Fun fact: In the Netherlands the percentage of adolescents who smoke grass is lower than in Germany where its illegal (and more expensive)


Also we Dutchmen put much more weed in our joints than you American woosies:O:

You clearly met the wrong Americans. In the US I have seen much more people smoking pure joints (without tobacco) than in Europe - but I have to admit that the Dutch cultivate the stronger breeds. :sunny:

[Jimbuna]

HEY !!! :stare: What the he!! is going on ? I had 40 tons in that tunnel. :-?

DAMN California will do anything to balance their budget. :haha:

LOL :DL

[gimpy117]

Imagine burning 30 tons of weed. If any city is downwind everyone will be high.

[DarkFish]

And the price nearly doubles across the border... :wah: muhahahaHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA:arrgh!:

Fun fact: In the Netherlands the percentage of adolescents who smoke grass is lower than in Germany where its illegal (and more expensive)
Didn't know that. I did know that in the Netherlands we've got less addicts and less drugs-related problems.

You clearly met the wrong Americans. In the US I have seen much more people smoking pure joints (without tobacco) than in Europe - but I have to admit that the Dutch cultivate the stronger breeds. :sunny:Never been to the US, but a friend of mine has a couple of times. What she told me pretty much corresponds with Platapus' statement:
Assuming the "average" joint being about 0.5 to 0.75 gramsmeaning that we Dutchmen use twice as much per joint:arrgh!:

[Buddahaid]

What do you mean less?

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd52/sirwinpb/DSCN1856-1.jpg

[DarkFish]

What do you mean less?Pff. They're sharing it with 4 people:O:

[Buddahaid]

Pff. They're sharing it with 4 people:O:

But, they are short people. :shucks:

[WarlordATF]

I think people would be surprised if they started randomly drilling holes along the border. That was just one of many tunnels and as soon as that one was shutdown another one took its place. 30 tons? There are some angry drug gangsters in Mexico, but 30 tons is really just a drop in the bucket. It was replaced and brought into the US within days of the bust.

It should be legalized and taxed IMO. Its less harmful than drinking and if you take the gangsters out of the picture it causes far less violence. Don't get me wrong, i don't think we should legalize all drugs, some of them are really bad news. I have seen people i once considered friends turn into total scumbags because of crack and Heroin, but i have never seen anyone say "Lets go rob a store to buy some weed".

The DEA doesn't want it legalized because they take in billions of dollars in property and cash every year in seizures. The only way they will ever support making it legal is if it starts to cost more to enforce than they are making off the drug war. Like everything in America, it all comes down to the $$$.