Two Florida men have been charged with smuggling more than $5 million worth of marijuana after Cook County sheriff’s police pulled over a semi-trailer truck in Elk Grove Village and discovered the drugs hidden in a load of carrots.
Abraham Garcia-Acosta, 44, and Diego Diaz-Perez, 49, were arrested Monday by Cook County Sheriff’s Police at a Days Inn on Higgins Road. The men were charged with possessing more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana discovered in a semi-trailer truck. Police found 80 packages of marijuana with a street value of $5.3 million hidden among boxes of carrots
Police were watching a suspicious rental car with Florida license plates in the Mount Prospect-Elk Grove Village area and followed it from the Days Inn to a parking lot in Elk Grove Village. Two men were observed getting into a semi-trailer truck.
Police pulled the truck over after it returned to the Days Inn parking lot and questioned the driver, Abraham Garcia-Acosta.
After giving conflicting statements about the content in the truck, Garcia-Acosta gave consent to search the truck. Police found 80 packages of marijuana with a street value of $5.3 million hidden among boxes of carrots, she said.
Garcia-Acost and Diaz-Perez are Mexico natives who have been living in Florida for a decade, according to their court-appointed attorney.
Judge Ramon Ocasio III set a $15,000 cash bond for each defendant.