So what's to complain about? Throw a comforter over a bale...

Authorities Believe Pot Shipment Originated Overseas Marijuana Held At Secret Location Will Be Destroyed

SENECA, S.C., 12:33 a.m. EDT June 27, 2001 -- An Upstate family expecting a furniture delivery to their home got more than they bargained for Monday when they opened up the crate.

Marijuana A Really, Really Wrong Delivery, Police Say

Oconee County Sheriff James Singleton said that the crate left outside of the family's home contained 2.5 tons of marijuana, with a street value of about $9 million. Singleton said that the family found 63 bales of marijuana inside the crate.

He told News 4 that he believes the marijuana came from overseas and doesn't believe that it was headed for Oconee County.

In fact, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, which is now handling the investigation, believes the delivery was a mistake.

But that's not to say that the Upstate is immune to large drug shipments, particularly with all the major interstates that run through the region.

"Think about where the drugs are manufactured and brought into the country – they're transported a lot of times up the interstates. We're right in the middle of that. You almost have to come through South Carolina to get to the northern states," Greenville County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Jim Burriss said.

That’s why there have been so many large drug seizures along the interstates, particularly Interstate 85.

But authorities said that this seizure was different.

The DEA also believes a mistake was made, perhaps at the port where the shipping container was delivered.

DEA agents said that they will try to trace the stash back to its origin.

Authorities said that the marijuana is under heavy security, at a secret location where it will probably sit until it is destroyed.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001