Bust nets 4.5 tons of pot

Gallup Police Detective Sgt. Billy Padavich moves a bundle of marijuana into a pile for cataloging Wednesday evening at the fire training center near Maloney Avenue. McKinley County Deputy John Trevor-Smith pulled over a semi-truck for speeding near Mile Marker 38. The deputy's dog, Apollo, smelled drugs and the truck was taken into custody by the multi-agency task force. Police say 8,901.1 pounds of marijuana were in the 13 shipping crates they found in the truck. Photograph by John A. Bowersmith / Independent

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Several city, county and state law enforcement officials spent Wednesday afternoon unloading huge boxes from a semi-trailer truck parked behind the county fire marshal's office.

The area around the semi and the boxes were all marked off with yellow crime tape and when the unloading was through, 16 crates measuring 6-feet x 4 feet x 4 feet were sitting in the parking lot.

And then the law enforcement got into the boxes, unloading bundle after bundle of marijuana.

They were still at it at 5 p.m. but it already looked to be the biggest drug bust in McKinley County history. Nearly 9,000 pounds of marijuana with a street value in the millions of dollars was confiscated.

And it all began because of a man who probably forget to pay attention to how fast he was going.

McKinley County Sgt. George Justice said a deputy within the county department, John Trevor-Smith, stopped the truck about 7:30 a.m. because it was traveling 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit.

The stop took place near Milepost 38. It was also in a construction zone so the driver of the vehicle, identified as Clarence Variste, 37, of Charlotte, N.C., could be facing double fines.

But he and Andrew O. McLean, 37, of College Park, Ga., are facing drug charges for the cargo they were transporting.

Justice said when Trevor-Smith pulled the vehicle, he found the driver acting nervous, "not able to stand still, biting his lip and swaying while standing." Variste declined to say what was in the truck, saying he was only the driver.

Variste was issued a ticket for speeding and Trevor-Smith deployed his canine partner around the vehicle, which indicated evidence of drugs near the rear doors.

Trevor-Smith asked if there were any other people in the trailer and Variste pointed to the back, saying the owner was back there sleeping, Trevor-Smith then asked permission of the driver to search the vehicle. When the request was refused, Trevor-Smith was told to detain the two while authorities got a search warrant.

Justice said once drugs were discovered, the matter was turned over the area's drug task force, whose members began the removal of the packing crates and the weighing of the marijuana.

Because of the amount of drugs 8,901.1 pounds and the inability of local drug enforcement to keep this amount under lock and key, the drugs were to be transferred to the state for holding.

McKinley County Sheriff Felix Begay said he was happy to see the drug bust went as quiet as it did. "This is what my men have been trained for," he said.

He added that he was also glad to see the county, city and state law enforcement officials work so well together as part of the regional task force group. "I would like to see ... the Navajo Nation join this effort," he said.