A family in New Mexico found more than thirteen pounds of marijuana inside the door of their van, which police believed had been hidden by the previous owner.
Melodie Peil, a mother of seven, who had the van for 13 years, said the discovery was made by a family friend when he was replacing a door handle. Peil said she had no knowledge that pot was inside the door panel. The Alamogordo Police Department believed the marijuana was there for least 15 years.
"We pulled it out of the door it was packed so hard, like a brick and it was wrapped maybe 10-12 times with saran wrap," Peil told NBC affiliate station KOB.
Bryan Reyes, the family friend, described the discovery as a “two-pound brick.”
"When I first pulled out the brick ... I was like, 'holy cow,' so I put it on the chair and I looked and there was like six more bricks,” he said in an interview with KOB. “I was like, 'this is a lot of marijuana.”
The family said they've driven through border patrol checkpoints at least ten times. New Mexico authorities never suspected anything either.
The van was bought from a used car lot in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Police said there are holes in the back door, which indicated that the car was likely used for smuggling drugs before the family purchased it.
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"It's insane," said Kayleigh Anderson, another family member. "My mind is so completely blown about this happening. Don't think it can't ever happen to you because we never would have expected this to happen to us. Just a normal small-town family, we would have never expected that, so just always be cautious."
Police believe there is likely more marijuana hidden in the van. The family is taking it to a border patrol checkpoint Tuesday for further inspection
