Pot Plot That Really Stinks: Marijuana bales covered in feces by Arizona-Mexico border

(CBS/AP) NOGALES, Ariz. - Here's one drug-trafficking scheme that stinks from the get-go.

Authorities in the southern Arizona border city of Nogales say they have found two bales of marijuana, covered in feces, and tied to a rope feeding into a sewer system.

Nogales police say public works employees hauled out an estimated 39 pounds of pot while investigating a clogged sewer line Wednesday.

Investigators told the Nogales International newspaper that the bales were smaller than a suitcase and tied to 900 feet of rope in a narrow pipe that connects sewers in the U.S. and Mexico.

Police Lt. Carlos Jimenez says it's the first time they've discovered marijuana tied to a rope they believe smugglers were planning to maneuver through the line.

Police say a search at the Rio Rico sewer plant, where the feed ends, did not turn up more drugs.

The drugs' street value was estimated at more than $20,000.