South Elgin police make big marijuana bust

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

SOUTH ELGIN — Suspicions by a village trucking firm about a shipping container delivered here this week led South Elgin police to arrest a California man now accused of sending about 82 pounds of pot to himself.

Bail was set at $500,000 Thursday for Walter T. Kwiatek, 69, of Cloverdale, Calif. He is charged with class X felony counts of cannabis trafficking and manufacturing or delivery of cannabis, and a class 1 felony count of possession of cannabis. According to a Kane County assistant state’s attorney, Kwiatek had a plane ticket back to California in his possession when he was arrested, and has no apparent ties to South Elgin.

The marijuana confiscated by police was described by authorities as “high-grade hydroponic cannabis” with a street value of $470,000.

According to South Elgin police Detective Brian Polkinghorn, village police were informed Monday by a trucking company at 825 Commerce Drive that a shipping container — described as a “relocation cube” and sealed by the owner’s own padlock — “was suspicious and might be contraband,” Polkinghorn said.

Based on that information, South Elgin police asked Elgin to loan them a drug-sniffing dog. With the dog indicating drugs in the container and other information obtained by police, a search warrant was secured, Polkinghorn said.

Surveillance was set up on the shipping container “and a short time later, the defendant showed up to retrieve the container. After he made payment, removed the padlock, and opened the container, contact was made by police who had set up the surveillance,” Polkinghorn said.

Inside the container, among scrap metal and “masking agents” used by marijuana traffickers to mask the smell, police said they found four large boxes containing the pot.

Kwiatek was arrested at 2:40 p.m. Wednesday.

Police said Kwiatek had flown into Chicago Midway International Airport on Monday from Oakland, Calif., and had a ticket for a flight back today.

There was no information obtained on who or where the pot was to go to, Polkinghorn said.

He added that it was suspicious that Kwiatek, who does not live in South Elgin or the area, shipped a container to himself here. The cost of shipping the container from California was about $800, he added.

The bust is believed to be the largest in South Elgin history, Polkinghorn said.