Summit County traffic stop yields 16 pounds of pot, two arrests

Sixteen pounds of marijuana. Check. Plastic bags to ship the ganja in the car trunk. Check. Burned-out tail light. Oops.

That's all it took to get the attention of a joint Park City police, Summit County Sheriff's Office and Drug Enforcement Agency operation on Interstate 80 Friday morning.

Park City police Capt. Phil Kirk said the vehicle was pulled over near the Port of Entry station near Hennefer about 9:10 a.m. A drug-sniffing dog did the rest.

"During the traffic stop the [sheriff's] K-9 conducted an exterior sniff of the vehicle and gave an indicator for the trunk. A search of the vehicle revealed over 16 pounds of packaged [marijuana] in 14 plastic bags," Kirk said.

He estimated the street value of the drugs at between $40,000 and $60,000.

The car's 47-year-old driver, from Watsonville, Calif., and a 45-year-old male passenger from Niagara Falls, N.Y., were arrested. The men were booked into Summit County jail on suspicion of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia, and the tail light violation.

remims@sltrib.com