EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) – The discovery of several suspicious packages led to a massive drug bust in Evansville, police say.
On Friday, officers from the Evansville Police Department responded after a mail carrier noticed ten packages that smelled like marijuana. The packages, sent from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., were to be delivered to three different addresses in Evansville.
After a K9 alerted to the presence of illegal narcotics, police say a search warrant revealed 90 pounds of marijuana were inside the packages.
According to EPD, the police made a controlled delivery of several packages to one of the addresses. Authorities say the landlord asked the delivery driver to place the packages in front of the pool house.
The owner told authorities he was renting the pool house through Airbnb, and a woman who had rented it the night before had mentioned packages were going to be delivered to her address. He also said the woman was driving a gray Toyota SUV.
According to an affidavit, a woman named Hua Hou messaged the owner shortly after and said she would be home in twenty minutes. While at one of the other delivery addresses, police saw a woman in a gray Toyota SUV leaving one of the houses and driving to the Airbnb house.
Police said they saw the woman quickly grab one of the packages from the pool house and run to her car. It was then that the police took her into custody.
Police say an airline boarding pass and car rental agreement from Evansville Regional Airport were found inside the SUV. According to an affidavit, Hua Hou was wanted outside of Georgia for smuggling marijuana.
Police estimate the 90 pounds of marijuana is worth $180,000. They say Hou is from Rancho Cucamonga, California, the same town the packages were shipped from.
Hou was taken to Vanderburgh County Jail on $20,000 bond. She is facing a controlled substance charge – trafficking in marijuana/hashish/salvia (felony)
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