Stolen iPad led to huge meth bust in San Jose

Surely, police must have been on the trail of a major theft ring when they arrived Thursday at an apartment complex in San Jose, only to trip over one of the biggest stashes of methamphetamine ever seized in the United States?

Not exactly.

Palo Alto police were apparently looking for a single stolen iPad when they arrived Thursday at The Woods, a sprawling apartment complex on Snell Road, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

The cops had tracked the iPad via GPS, said Assistant District Attorney David Tomkins.

The officers didn't have a search warrant, so they knocked on the door of the apartment and asked the occupants for permission to come in. They consented, Tomkins said.

"They probably thought if they didn't, we'd suspect something," Tomkins said. "Or they thought, 'I'll let them in -- they probably won't find anything.'"

Much to their amazement, the officers found 780 pounds of crystal meth scattered around the place, worth about $35 million.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen said roughly 100 pounds or a little more of meth are recovered annually in the county, making this seizure "easily at least six years worth," he said.

"I told my dad about the bust," said Rosen, "and he said, 'They have $35 million, and they can't go out and buy an iPad?"

Full Story (Silicon Valley)