Charges Dropped After $6 Million in Pot Found Inside Illinois Truck

This one HAS TO have these Illinois cops...pissed. ChicagoTrib

Fabian Ochoa, Jose Miguel Espinoza, and Rafael Martinez were being watched...Law enforcement had a good beat of these guys and were waiting on the right moment to swoop in and bust them, they did.

2,300 pounds of marijuana worth about $6 million, in a truck. Wow! The men were doing some heavy labor, loading up the truck at a Des Plaines warehouse. Cops make their move, get the bust and the arrest and $6 million in drug are off the streets. But wait, there's more!

This case went to court, and things got sticky. The judges ruling on the bust, police:

Violated search and seizure standards

Wait, what? Defense attorneys for the three men said that the cops had been watching the bad guys then conducted a search without a warrant. This got hairy, really quick:

"The police didn't have a warrant or a definable reason to stop them, the officers had a hunch and they said it was a consensual search, but the judge didn't believe them."  - Ralph Meczyk, defense attorney

What in hell, judge? Officers say they were acting on a tip...but the judge wasn't having any of that. Guess what, that's that. Case dismissed, and the men were free to go! But what about the $6 million in weed? Do the guys get giant "to-go" bags on the way out of the courtroom? Not so fast on that one, the weed was all destroyed.