Thursday, November 1, 2007

Narcotics agent reports a big haul in bust near Nyssa

Jack Merrill, head of the Portland office of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, said he took two pounds of marijuana off a Nyssa man during his arrest at a secluded spot near that city, the Argus-Observer reported on Nov. 3, 1952.

An undercover officer arranged to buy the marijuana from Antonio Enriquez, 27, who had been living in the Nyssa area for six years. Enriquez was charged with felony sale and possession of marijuana. The prisoner was then taken to Pendleton for arraignment before a U.S. Commissioner.

In searching the Enriquez home after his arrest, officers said they found another two tobacco cans full of marijuana ready to be rolled and a cigarette package filled with hand-made “reefers.”
Merrill called the quantity a “big haul” valued at about $300. He said that most of Eniquez’s customers were migrant workers.

Oregon State Police and local district attorney Charles Swan developed the case before calling in the federal agent from Portland, the paper reported.

Merrill told the newspaper that the marijuana was of better quality than could be grown around Nyssa and may have been brought in from California.

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