Lake County Narcotics Unit intercepts 700 pounds of pot from the mail

The vacuum-sealed packages were designed to keep drug-sniffing police dogs from detecting marijuana.

It didn't work.

Lake County narcotics detectives intercepted an 8-pound box of marijuana that was sent to a house in Lake County from California.

Sergeant Chris Begley with the Lake County Narcotics Unit said police K9s — patrolling shipping centers — hit on the box.

"We intercept many packages at the US Postal Service, Federal Express and UPS with the originating address from Colorado or California," Begley said.

It's happening more often. The evidence room is filled with boxes containing 700 pounds of marijuana, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on the street — all of it sent from Colorado to a fake business in Lake County.

"The larger-scale operations operate behind fake business fronts," Begley said.

Begley said investigators believe the marijuana is being sent by growers in states where marijuana is legal. Instead of destroying excess crop, they try to make more money in states like Ohio where marijuana is not legal.

"Any regulation that is in place in those other states is falling short of tracking how much marijuana is being harvested," added Begley.

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