Police

Feds investigate box of weed shipped from Cali to Riverhead

NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO  |  There were mixed reactions from people on the decision to halt Saturday mail delivery.
NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | The Riverhead Post Office.

A box of weed shipped from California was intercepted at the Riverhead Post Office last week, postal service officials confirmed Wednesday.

The package was pulled out of the mail at the post office on West Main Street in the early afternoon last Wednesday after the parcel “exhibited characteristics that lead us to believe that package was suspicious,” said Donna Harris, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the postal service’s law enforcement and security arm.

Ms. Harris said it was “pretty evident” the package contained illegal substances and a subsequent investigation revealed marijuana had been packed inside the parcel. She did not say how much drugs were discovered in the package.

A source in the postal service said the package had been mailed from California into New York. The parcel’s intended destination was not released by postal officials.

Ms. Harris said the incident is still under investigation, though no arrests have been made in the case.

Mailing marijuana through the mail is a crime and may be federally prosecuted depending on the amount shipped, Ms. Harris said.

“If they put anything in the mail stream that’s illegal and it’s discovered we will take every step we can to make sure we get it out of the mail stream and if necessary prosecute and bring to justice those who [broke the law],” she said.

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