On Saturday night (April 29), a driver operating a hearse on a highway near Tucson, Arizona, was transporting something stationary but out of the ordinary. According to VICE, Border Patrol agents became suspicious of the vehicle and decided to stop the driver and launch an inspection.
As they patrolled the car, the law enforcement officials grew weary and ordered for a dog that’s trained to detect narcotics to sniff the vehicle’s perimeter. Their suspicions were deemed valid when they discovered 67 pounds of marijuana stored inside a coffin.
“After several inconsistencies and based on the totality of the circumstances, a Border Patrol canine unit was requested and alerted to an odor it was trained to detect emitting from the hearse,” a statement from the Wilcox Border Patrol Agents reads. “A subsequent search of the hearse led agents to unload the casket, revealing multiple bricks of marijuana concealed within the casket worth over $33K.”
Willcox #USBP agents arrest 1, seize hearse with over 67lbs. of marijuana in smuggling effort near Whetstone #AlwaysVigilant #HonorFirst pic.twitter.com/umW4NXgMJJ
— CBP Arizona (@CBPArizona) April 30, 2017
An unidentified 28-year-old man was arrested for smuggling illegal drugs. Authorities said the extended search of the hearse was due to “inconsistencies in the man’s story,” USA Today reports.