Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - An elderly Rochester man responded to an unusual request from the Rochester Police Department over the weekend.

Capt. John Sherwin says local investigators received information from the St. Paul Police Department that a shipment of around 10 brand new Ford Fusions recently arrived in Minnesota by train and had been distributed to dealerships throughout Minnesota and surrounding states. The St. Paul police report indicated investigators suspected the vehicles, manufactured at a Ford plant in Mexico, were equipped with an unrequested option. Investigators believed each had a shipment of marijuana hidden in the trunk.

Capt. Sherwin says records showed one of the cars had been sold by Rochester Ford to an 87-year-old gentleman, who agreed to bring the vehicle in for an inspection. A search of the trunk uncovered a 50 pound package of marijuana stashed in the space used to hold the spare tire, along with some coffee grounds and other materials used to mask the smell of the drugs.

Sherwin speculates the cars loaded with the contraband were supposed to have been intercepted by drug traffickers well before reaching the dealerships, but something prevented them from getting to the drugs.

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