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Narcotics Bureau Detectives Sergio Raneli and Nart Marza stopped the rented 2019 Chrysler Pacifica with Florida license plates on eastbound Route 80 after the driver failed to signal, Detective Capt. Darrin DeWitt said.
The unemployed driver, Vincent Lee, 35, was unable to provide any paperwork for the rental, DeWitt said.
Lee also told them that he "didn't know who rented the vehicle and said he didn't know what was inside eight large cardboard boxes that detectives saw inside the minivan," the captain said.
Conservative estimates put the worth of that much weight sold on the street by the pound at anywhere from $250,000 to nearly $400,000.
If sold by the ounce, it could fetch $545,000 based on the national black-market average of $265 per ounce.
Lee was sent to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on charges of possessing more than 25 pounds of marijuana for sale.
DeWitt said Lee is a member of a triad -- a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in greater China with outposts in various countries with significant overseas Chinese populations.
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