WESTFIELD -- Police continue to investigate what they believe to have been a "labeling error" that sent 18 pounds of marijuana to a video game store on East Main Street last month.



Capt. Michael A. McCabe said UPS delivered the marijuana to GameStop on East Main Street on May 24. The package was sent from Mexico to Philadelphia, and then to the business at 431 East Main St.



McCabe stressed that there is no indication that GameStop employees were involved. Investigators believe that someone in Philadelphia wrote an incorrect address on the package, inadvertantly sending the marijuana to the store. The name of the business was not on the label.



When employees opened the box, marked "Return to Sender," they found a layer of a grease-like substance coating a secondary package inside. At that point, Gamestop employees, realizing the package was not for them, called the police.



McCabe said drug smugglers use that greasy substance to confound drug-sniffing dogs.



McCabe said the marijuana has a street value of at least $36,000. Cultivated marijuana, he said, has five different grades, which range in value from $2,000 to $5,000 a pound. McCabe said he did not know the grade of this particular shipment.



An employee who answered the phone at Gamestop Friday morning declined to comment.

