By Lori EhdeA Rock County resident made a valuable find this week when he picked up a tire along the road and brought it to a service station to see if it was repairable. The value of the tire and rim soon became insignificant when repairmen found 10 cans of marijuana packed inside the rubber.Each professionally sealed can contained roughly a pound of tightly packed marijuana.According to Rock County Sheriff Mike Winkels, the street value of the pot, depending on its quality, ranges from $700 to $2,000 per pound."And this is some pretty high-test stuff," he said Wednesday morning after the cans were turned in to law enforcement.That said, the contents of the found tire could be worth up to $20,000 on the street.Winkels said canned marijuana like this typically comes from Mexico. "We haven’t seen cans in this area (the four-state area) in over two years," he said."We’ve never seen it in Rock County."When asked about the local drug market, Winkels said the Thanksgiving arrests last fall (see related story) helped for a while."It stopped for a period of time, but with supply and demand … if there’s a demand, there’s going to be a supply," Winkels said.The cans will be dusted for fingerprints and then sent to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension crime lab in St. Paul.There are currently no suspects in custody, but Winkels said the Sheriff’s Department, as always, welcomes tips on this case or any case.The non-emergency phone number is 283-5000.
