Pot bust was biggest ever in Lincoln County

Special to the Inter Lake

The Aug. 17 seizure that netted more than 400 pounds of high-grade "B.C. Bud" marijuana valued at $2 million was the largest marijuana bust in Lincoln County history.

David E. Newcomb, 55, and Donald J. Cramer, 61, both of Kootenai County, Idaho, are being held on federal drug-smuggling charges. They were arrested after a Forest Service fire lookout reported a suspicious float plane flying from the direction of Canada toward Lake Koocanusa.

Officers from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the Montana Highway Patrol stopped a 2001 Chevrolet one-ton "dually" pickup truck headed away from the area where the plane had last been seen, said LCSO Detective Lt. Jim Sweet. A U.S. Border Patrol officer arrived a few minutes later with a drug-sniffing dog, and an alert by the dog led to a search of the truck that revealed 414 pounds of marijuana.

THE DRIVER was arrested and the truck seized, along with a motor home, a camper and a boat at what is believed to have been a "staging area" for smuggling activities, Sweet said. No one was present at the camp site at the time, he said.

Another truck, driven by the second suspect, was observed leaving the scene and was later stopped by authorities in Idaho, leading to the arrest of the second man. The truck and $4,000 cash were seized by Idaho authorities.

Federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers are leading the investigation.

"It's obviously organized crime," Sweet said. "There's a lot more associates that have been involved in this than have been identified or probably will be identified."

The use of the float plane was not surprising, Sweet said, following a recent seizure of around 100 pounds of marijuana in Flathead County under similar circumstances.

"We knew they'd taken this show to the air," he said.

The sheriff's office is instigating forfeiture proceedings for the seized truck, motor home, camper and boat, Sweet said. If forfeited, the county can sell the property and use the funds for drug enforcement.