Zachary police make record drug seizure
ZACHARY — Police turned on fans in the police station in an attempt to dissipate the odor emanating from 207 pounds of marijuana seized from a man’s truck, the largest pot bust in the department’s history, Police Chief David McDavid said Tuesday.
McDavid said the odor permeated every room of the police station as officers worked Monday on search warrants and booking documents after arresting the man driving the truck.
“It was tearing us up; giving us headaches,” McDavid said of the packages of shrink-wrapped marijuana that officers took to the State Police Crime Lab later on Monday.
McDavid said officers were clocking motorists with radar on McHugh Road and attempted to stop a 2007 Chevrolet pickup truck traveling at 42 mph in the 30 mph zone.
The truck turned around and drove into a gated apartment complex on McHugh Road, but an officer followed it into the complex and stopped the driver, identified as Terrance Whiten, 23, in front of his apartment.
When an officer asked Whiten for his proof of insurance and registration, Whiten began walking back to his truck but then tried to run away, McDavid said.
When the officer caught up with Whiten, the officer smelled an odor of marijuana on Whiten’s person, and a drug-detection dog then indicated to its handler the scent of marijuana was coming from the truck, the police chief said.
Officers who searched the vehicle found six large garbage bags containing 207 pounds of marijuana, along with a bottle of cough syrup with codeine and a baby bottle containing a purple liquid suspected to be codeine, McDavid said.
Officers also seized Whiten’s truck and more than $6,100 inside it, as well as $16,000 from his apartment, McDavid said.
Whiten was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on one count each of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of Schedule V drugs, resisting arrest by flight and speeding, McDavid said.