Massive marijuana haul found in stolen Tesla after high-speed chase
By Felix Cortez
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SALINAS, California (KSBW) — A high-speed chase from Salinas ended early Tuesday morning after some alleged cannabis thieves made a wrong turn down a dead-end street in Gilroy, resulting in a huge pot bust.
“It was like Christmas, you know, the whole thing, the whole block was lit up,” said Christian Aguirre after a dozen law enforcement units lit up his neighborhood on the 700 block of Catherine Court.
Monterey County Sheriff’s deputies say the driver and two occupants fled law enforcement because the stolen Tesla they were driving was packed with large-sized bags filled with marijuana- allegedly stolen from a cannabis operation on Potter Road south of Salinas.
“It looked like a body, but instead of being a body, it was a big bag of weed,” Aguirre said.
“So I could tell you that in my 25 years of law enforcement history, this is by far the most amount of marijuana that I’ve seen in one single vehicle,” added Andres Rosas, spokesman for the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.
The amount of marijuana and its value have yet to be determined, but a security guard reported three to four suspects loading the cannabis into the Tesla, and possibly a silver or grey Honda.
Questions remain on how the suspects were able to get onto the premises of the large cannabis cultivation site.
“I don’t know that’s we’re going to be looking into all of these details,” Rosas said.
A 17-year-old arrested at the Gilroy scene might provide some answers, but two others fled on foot. The Honda was found ditched alongside Highway 101 at Gould Street, south of Salinas.
“Actively processing the vehicles that were involved and again, seeking information from the public as to any detail that could help to identify the additional two persons that fled from the car or anybody else that may have been involved in coordinating this burglary,” Rosas said.
The juvenile arrested is not from the central coast, leading investigators to believe all those involved are from out of the area.
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