CHICAGO (STMW) — A search warrant executed over the weekend resulted in the seizure of more than $8 million worth of narcotics, multiple handguns and vehicles, as well as approximately $335,000 in cash in the South Side Back of the Yards neighborhood.
Officers from the Chicago Police Department’s Narcotics Section, with the assistance of the Asset Forfeiture Unit, executed the warrant in the 1500 block of West 46th Street on Saturday evening, according to a release from police News Affairs. As a result of the team’s efforts, Hector Marroquin, 49, of the 5500 block of South California Avenue, has been charged with felony possession of cannabis.
During the search, more than 1,200 pounds of cannabis with a street value estimated at more than $8 million was recovered, the release said. The investigation also led police to search a garage in the 5500 block of South California Avenue.
In addition to the cannabis seizure, 800 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of $100,000, approximately $335,676 in U.S. currency, two semiautomatic handguns and three vehicles were recovered from the two locations.
While conducting an unrelated investigation in the area, Narcotics Section team members followed a lead that brought them to a large scale drug trafficking operation out of the 46th Street location, an auto repair shop owned by Marroquin. Subsequent surveillance provided the information necessary to obtain a search warrant for the location, police said.
Marroquin was scheduled to appear for a bond hearing earlier Monday although court information was not immediately available.
Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.