Issue - Need Guidence or Suggestions

Hey Everyone,
I hope I can get some advice on how to handle this particular situation. I took a load off of COMFREIGHT going from Mcallen TX to Houston TX. Shortly after being loaded the driver was pulled over by the DOT and other authorities. All the freight was pulled off the trailer and several
(42 bags) pieces of marijuana was found on the shipment. Some of the product (cabinets) got damaged as they broke open "trap doors" as the police report says. They reloaded the trailer and sent the driver on his way with the assurance that he was not in and trouble and they're just doing there job and appreciated all the support and cooperation from us.

This happened Monday night and Tuesday I was unable to get a hold of "The Shipper" "The Receiver" "The Customer". It's Thursday evening and everything is still going to voicemail. I then had the load taken to a 3PL storage facility (in Austin, which is out of the way but I had to make a judgement call and business decision to free this driver up and put the product somewhere I can trust) which is charging $50 a day to hold the freight as I couldn't leave the load on the trailer. Truck and trailer is needed elsewhere and I can't have the driver sitting on freight.

I looked up the receiver, the shipper both on Google Maps trying to find some other way to contact those businesses and it looks like it might have been some kind of fly by night pop up operation on both ends. I'm not entirely sure yet, it's speculative.

My question is... what am I suppose to do with this freight? Is there any transportation lawyer or specialist I can reach out to help decide and plan my options? This is a new one for me as usually at one point or another I can get this kind of situation resolved but I'm am literally lost at this point and I am not one who goes looking for help easily.

I appreciate any help and advice.

 

The entire place was raided and from what I understand there was no one there to unload or take it back. At the time I was able to reach the customer and he said to continue onto the destination and he would offset any charges. However shortly after is when communication broke down.

I have the police report and the BOL but nothing on the BOL says there was a search and seizure. The police report does indicate the trailer with LP# number and drivers name and truck. That is about it.

On Tuesday I just figured it would clear up after a day or two and the customer would just pay the additional charges.

Here's 2 of the documents I have, if anyone wants some bonus literature.

Spoiler: Images

 

With hindsight being 20/20, no. I don't feel guilty about dumping the product into the warehouse because it was the best course of action to make with the limited information and equipment availability in the area. I'm not going to hold a driver up and lose him money when he's the biggest asset I have next to the equipment. I can shell a 50 a day storage fee, I can't replace a good driver if he quits because he isn't making money he needs to make. I feel I made the right decision here.

I was just reaching out to everyone here to see if anyone had any additional insight or experience with this kind of issue. I sent the customer an email informing that their freight will be disposed of if they don't reach out to me by 5pm tomorrow. If they don't respond by then I'll look into whatever Texas requires me to have done to properly dispose of this without any real legal repercussions.