United Auto Workers Local 1714 begged the bosses at an Ohio Ford plant not to send their manufacturing jobs down to Mexico.
When a shipment of Ford Fusions recently showed up, for the fifth time this year, with a million dollars worth of weed packed in the trunks, workers had a good laugh and an even larger “we told you so.”
“Nothing against Mexican workers but there’s another reason why we should make our cars in the U.S.,” one of the laid-off workers from the downsized Lordstown plant told High Times.
The pot-laden GM Fusions were manufactured at the Ford plant in Sonora, Mexico, which borders Arizona and New Mexico.
The cars were then shipped in CSX rail cars to the Lordstown dealership, where the cannabis cargo was found neatly packed in the shape of half-moons in the wheel wells designed for spare tires.
According to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office, weed packages from the same shipment were also found in Ford Fusions at dealerships in several other Ohio counties, as well as Pennsylvania.
Silverio Balzano, director of the DEA’s office in Youngstown, Ohio, said this was not the first he’s heard of marijuana stashed in cars from Mexico. Similar seizures were made earlier this year in Minnesota and Phoenix.
Just last May, an 86-year-old Minnesota man was asked by cops, who were acting on a tip, to pop the trunk on his new 2017 Ford Fusion. He was shocked when they found $320,000 worth of weed stashed under the carpet.
In the Minnesota case, over a half-ton of weed was discovered when a truck driver carrying some of the cars tipped off the Saint Paul police department, which proceeded to track down 15 pot-packed cars, most of which were already at area dealerships or had been bought by unsuspecting customers.
The weed seems to be coming from the same manufacturing plant in Sonora, Mexico.
“Clearly, something went wrong,” said Balzano.“Generally speaking, they could take it off anywhere else along the way.”
Now, investigators are trying to figure out where along the supply line the weed was packed into the cars and who failed to retrieve it.
Ford? What say you?
“We’re aware of the situation and are taking it very seriously,” a Ford Motor Company spokesman said, per Fox 8 Cleveland. “We are working with the FBI and Customs on an extensive investigation. We have confirmed that this is not happening at our plant or at our internal shipping yards.”
What about the shipping company?
A CSX shipping company spokesman told CNN that they are “providing all the support we can to the agencies who are investigating this serious crime and will continue to do so.”
And, of course, a local Ohio Sheriff’s Drug Task Force is working with the DEA in the investigation.
But, no one seems to know from whence came the weed or how it keeps getting into the trunks of Ford Fusions.
If you happen to purchase a new Fusion, check your trunk before the cops do.
