LOVE COUNTY, OK -- More than 200 pounds of marijuana was seized Monday morning from a vehicle headed north on Interstate 35. Authorities in Love County say this may well be the biggest bust they've ever had. Dara Downs reports.

Police tell us it started as a routine traffic stop on I-35 Monday morning just outside of Marietta, and ended up netting more than $280,000 worth of marijuana. Investigators they're glad they kept such a large amount of pot from hitting the streets.

The Love County Sheriff's Office and the Marietta Police Department are calling the bust a new record.

"This is not a normal Monday. I would say this is probably the largest busts in this county," said Marietta police officer Eric Grisham.

Grisham say I-35 is a popular corridor for marijuana transport because it offers a straight path from large cities in Texas like Dallas to Oklahoma City.

Grisham explained, "This goes up and down I-35 everyday, all day long, and it's just a matter of us getting out there and doing our job to put a halt to some of it."

A recent report by the National Institute on Drugs says while the use of pot is not increasing, it's not dropping either. The report says the use of marijuana among teens is putting young people at risk for getting into more dangerous or harder illegal drugs.

"When we arrest people, for example, for cocaine, meth, or heroine sales, I'll ask them how they get here. Many of them say it started out as them smoking marijuana with their friends when they were teenagers," Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics spokesman Mark Woodward said.

While investigators say this load was mostly likely intended for Oklahoma City, Grisham says those shipments usually trickle down and find their way close to home

"Ultimately when they get it to wherever its going and break it down, it will ultimately come back to smaller towns like Marietta, Ardmore, things like that," Grisham said.

The Monday morning bust was a big step for the two agencies who have been trained to spot drug trafficking behavior. Grisham says it's important to him to keep these drugs off of the streets.

"Well for us, it boosts our moral and our confidence. We're just trying to do our part by putting a dent in the drug industry," Grisham explained.

Investigators say they have seen an increase in drugs being transported across state lines, which means the burden for these arrests falls on local agencies like those in Love County. For those officers big busts like this one are all the more meaningful.

The two suspects, Maykol Hernandez (pictured, above left) and Carlos Mendez, were arrested and booked into the Love County Jail. Officials tell us they don't believe the two men are American citizens, but they are still investigating the case.