In what was described as the largest illegal drug seizure in Chicago’s south suburbs, police confiscated a truck containing nearly 6,000 pounds of marijuana and nearly 450 kilograms of cocaine and arrested a Markham man on suspicion of involvement in an international drug operation, authorities said Friday.
State and local police officers assigned to the Joliet-based Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad and agents from the U.S. Customs Service said they arrested Casey J. Tolar Jr., of the 16200 block of Plymouth Street, Thursday morning after allegedly finding the drugs hidden in five 500-gallon white propane tanks on a flatbed truck that he reportedly owns and operates.
Tolar was charged Friday with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, said Marcy Boyle, a spokeswoman with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
“This was a very big seizure,” said Nicholas Berg, special agent in charge of the Chicago-area office of the Customs Service. “In fact, even in downtown Bogota (Colombia) it would have been a big hit.”
The narcotics squad conducted the search of Tolar’s truck at 10:15 a.m. Thursday in the yard of a trucking firm Tolar owns at 15212 Dixie Highway in Harvey, said Lt. Jerry Wall, the squad’s director.
Out of 28 propane tanks on the truck, five contained drugs, Wall said. The narcotics apparently originated in Mexico, Berg said.