Trucker busted in Idaho with 6,700 pounds of suspected marijuana

Updated Sep 24, 2019
Truck driver Denis Palamarchuk was arrested trafficking marijuana after police found more than 6,700 pounds in his trailer. (Idaho State Police photo)Truck driver Denis Palamarchuk was arrested trafficking marijuana after police found more than 6,700 pounds in his trailer. (Idaho State Police photo)

A truck driver was busted in Idaho Jan. 24 hauling more than 6,700 pounds of marijuana – the largest pot bust in Idaho State Police history.

According to an ISP press release, Denis Palamarchuk, of Portland, Oregon, was pulled over at the East Boise Port of Entry for an inspection. As part of the inspection, the trooper inspected the bill of lading, which said the load was hemp.

The trooper suspected that the cargo was marijuana and not industrial hemp, so he inspected one of the 31 large bags in the trailer. Upon inspection, he observed a green, leafy substance that appeared to be marijuana, then used a narcotic identification kit to test a sample. The sample tested positive for THC. Additionally, the trooper called in an ISP drug-sniffing canine team, and the dog alerted for drugs.

Palamarchuk was arrested and booked into the Ada County Jail on the charge of felony trafficking in marijuana. The cargo, which totaled 6,701 pounds, is being lab tested for conclusive analysis.

“This is the largest Idaho State Police trafficking seizure of this type in any present-day trooper’s memory,” said Colonel Kedrick Wills, ISP director.

A trucker was arrested earlier this month in Oklahoma in a similar case in which the load was supposedly 18,000 pounds of industrial hemp, but police believed it to be marijuana.

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