City is overrun by giant MARIHUANA cloud after Colombian police burn 1.5 tons of seized drugs…
- Residents of suburban Medellin mistake cloud of burning cannabis for real fire
- ‘We felt a terrible smoke’ [with] a huge smell of marijuana,” said a local
- Police burned 1.5 tons of the drug found Tuesday before the wind kicked in
- Authorities forced to clarify there was no fire, with ‘tower blocks evacuated’
Police in a Colombian drug capital had to reassure the public after 1.5 tons of burnt marijuana formed a cloud over the city.
Residents of Bello, a suburb of Medellin, described a “huge smell of marijuana” after officers burned stockpiles of the seized drug early Tuesday.
But as the day grew windier, cannabis smoke began to drift over the city, engulfing the residents of Bello in its signature scent.
Local reports suggested that several tower blocks had been evacuated.
The local mayor’s office had to clarify that the huge cannabis cloud was ‘not a fire’
One social media user wrote: ‘Because of this joke, several residential towers had to be evicted.
“Congratulations to the Army and National Police.”
The mayor’s office quickly made it clear that the rising vapor was “not a fire.”
Officers from the National Police, the Army and the Fire Brigade and personnel from the Public Prosecution Service were involved in the controlled combustion.
Resident Edilberto Castaño told Caracol TV, “We felt an awful smoke coming from the battalion, a great smell of marijuana that stopped everyone.”
The seizure of drugs took place on Tuesday evening at two addresses, police said.
Surveillance images showed the dramatic drug robbery in the suburb of Medellin earlier this week
Police have released footage of officers unpacking tons of seized marijuana packages
Officers were reportedly shot at by owners of the huge shipments found in two locations
They added that the owners of the shipments were firing at agents in a last-ditch effort to protect their product.
It was said that the marijuana would be “dosed, distributed and sold in the vice plazas” of the city’s El Mirador neighborhood.
The burning followed the seizure of more than a ton of marijuana in the capital Bogota two weeks ago.