Pot parcel surprises elderly Upper Darby couple

An elderly Upper Darby couple was awaiting a delivery from Sears but when a package arrived at their Heather Road home last week, the recipients name and mailing address didn’t match up. So, they let the cardboard box sit on the porch for a few days until the curiosity got the best of them.

When they opened it on Thursday, they unexpectedly found five pounds of marijuana in Styrofoam. It was time to call police.

“No police officer, no canine could have caught the smell of what was inside,” Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said yesterday.

Narcotics being sent through mail and UPS — as this one was — are nothing new. Chitwood said it happens several times a year. In this case, both the return address in Tollison, Ariz. and the Phoenix address from which it was mailed were fake.

Sometimes, they do a “dry run” of a few pounds of marijuana, cocaine, heroin or another narcotic to test whether police catch on, officials said.   

If they don’t, they’ll then try a nearby block to send “a hundred pounds. Other approaches include tracking the delivery online and laying in wait until it arrives so they can sign for it unbeknownst to the addressee.

“The family is very, very afraid that someone’s going to come to pick up the drugs,” Chitwood said. The case remains under investigation by Upper Darby police and the DEA.