Pubdate: Mon, 26 May 2003
Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA)
Copyright: 2003 MetroWest Daily News
Contact:  http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/619
Author: Norman Miller
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

POLICE TRY TO CRACK PIKE POT HIJACKING

FRAMINGHAM -- State Police are investigating numerous tips about the three 
unidentified men who tried to hijack a tractor trailer full of marijuana on 
Friday, while the truck drivers await their day in court tomorrow.

"It's still under investigation," said State Police spokesman Trooper Tom 
Ryan. "There's still nothing concrete to report."

Trooper Todd Glidden of the Weston barracks said police have fielded 
hundreds of tips phoned in, but they have not led to arrests.

On Friday night, three masked men in a white rental van somehow forced an 
18-wheeler heading west on the Turnpike to pull over. While one of the 
three men got into the truck with the driver and a passenger, the other two 
masked men followed in the van, police said.

The hijacker ordered the driver to get off at Exit 12 in Framingham, but he 
continued on. After a struggle, the tractor trailer veered off the road, 
and the hijackers fled in the van.

The two men in the truck told police they were delivering rolls of paper 
from Ontario, Canada, to North Carolina.

A State Police drug-sniffing dog discovered 800 pounds of marijuana, worth 
roughly $1.2 million on the street, inside the truck.

Harjiven Cheema, 31, and Harpreet Chahal, 25, both of Ontario, are charged 
with trafficking marijuana and will be arraigned tomorrow at 9 a.m. in 
Westborough District Court.

The whereabouts of the three hijackers is still unknown, Ryan said.

Anyone with information about the hijackers is asked to contact State 
Police in Weston at 781-43-5050.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager