When police learned that a large shipment of marijuana was headed for the Twin Cities, they intercepted it, examined it and delivered it to its intended destination.

Then they lay in wait for someone to pick it up. Doanzell G. Johnson, 37, of Inver Grove Heights, was arrested with four parcels containing a total of 213 pounds of marijuana. He was charged Thursday in Ramsey County District Court with first-degree drug sales.

According to the criminal complaint, police at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport learned about the drug shipment from an officer with the U.S. Postal Service in Los Angeles. The shipment was headed to a business called Design Concept Textiles in the 1300 block of University Avenue in St. Paul, but when investigators went to that address, it turned out to be a UPS store.

Investigators got a search warrant and opened one of the four drug parcels when the shipment arrived Tuesday. A narcotics-sniffing dog alerted on the other three parcels. All were delivered to the UPS store, and shortly after noon Tuesday, Johnson was arrested after he loaded the parcels into his vehicle.

Johnson told the officers that he picked up the packages for someone else and was paid $200 per box. He "said that he knew it must have been something illegal due to the whole process of events," the complaint said.

Police found $5,441 in cash on Johnson and seized the Humvee H2 he was driving. Police later found evidence that he had shipped large amounts of money to different parts of the country.

The marijuana seized has a street value of more than $200,000, the complaint said.

Cmdr. Rich Clark of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office said that while 213 pounds is "not the largest, it's a very good seizure."

Minneapolis police Lt. Rick Thomas said most seizures range from 10 to 50 pounds.

Pat Pheifer • 651-298-1551