| U.S. Customs and Border Protection. |
Add scuba diving across the St. Clair River to your list of marijuana smuggling methods that don’t work.
U.S. Border Patrol arrested a Canadian man around 1 a.m. Monday morning in Michigan after he surfaced from the river with a dry bag with about eight pounds of Canadian herb inside.
The whole thing began when a “concerned citizen” called Border Patrol about someone swimming into the country via the river, according to CBS Detroit. Unlike on the U.S./Mexico border, that must not be a common sight. Anyway, the Border Patrol then contacted the Air National Guard, which was able to use remote cameras to spot the would-be smuggler slipping his way through the water towards Michigan.
Meanwhile in the river, the unnamed scuba diver kept at it until he reached the banks of the U.S. That’s when Border Patrol agents swarmed up to greet him and the sealed PVC pipe stuffed with herb that he was towing behind in the water.
| U.S. Customs and Border Protection. |
His device worked, and the pot stayed dry – which is a good thing considering marijuana charges are weight-dependent and law enforcement loves weighing wet marijuana to increase penalties. Border Patrol agents valued the herb at around $40,000 according to the Detroit Free Press.
Border Patrol handed the man over to the St. Clair County Drug Task Force, which will handle the case from here on out.
Officials say this is the first time they’ve ever had someone smuggle marijuana from Canada underwater.
“It’s not something you see every day, but there’s always something going on around here, that’s for sure,” a Border Patrol spokesman told the Macomb/St.Clair
Down south, stuff like this is old hat. Hell, smugglers there have moved on to submarines and cannons.