DPS Reports What Is Believed To Be One Of Largest Pot Busts

AUSTIN (AP) – Department of Public Safety troopers seized 4 tons of marijuana from inside a tanker truck in what authorities say is the second-largest pot bust by the DPS during a routine traffic stop since 1997, authorities said Wednesday.

DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said the truck was stopped Monday on a highway about three miles east of Hebbronville in South Texas.

Troopers said the truck bore fictitious markings, and an inspection revealed 846 plastic-wrapped bundles totaling 8,900 pounds, Vinger said. Authorities suspected the cargo was being taken from Starr County in the Lower Rio Grande Valley to Houston.

Reynaldo Hovey Jr., 24, of La Joya was arrested and expected to appear in federal court to face drug possession charges.

The largest bust DPS bust recovered 11,896 pounds on July 16, 2004, in Bee County, Vinger said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) AP-NY-04-11-07 1637EDT