Apr.01, 2010, 6:49 PM

A routine traffic stop has resulted in the seizure of more than 100 pounds of marijuana and the arrests of four Monmouth County men in a marijuana trafficking and money-laundering scheme, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday.

Top row, r-l: James Norton, Thomas J. Lynch and Brian Bae. Bottom row, r-l: David Ku and Daniel Ku.

The case started with a traffic stop March 23 in a commuter parking lot along the Garden State Parkway in Montvale, according to Montvale Police Chief Jeremy Abrams.

Thomas J. Lynch, 27, of Tinton Falls, who was driving a black, 2006 Chevy Impala, consented to a search of the car, during which police found less than $10 worth of marijuana, Abrams said.

Montvale police arrested him and contacted the prosecutor’s office’s Narcotics Task Force, Abrams said.

Officers then found $65,000 in a package on the car’s back seat, the prosecutor’s office said.

More than 100 pounds of marijuana were seized.

Lynch told police the car and the package belonged to Brian Bae of Red Bank, authorities said, and when Bae went to Montvale police headquarters to retrieve the car, it became apparent he was involved, Abrams said. He was arrested on money-laundering charges, the prosecutor’s office said.

Police later found that Lynch and Bae were using houses in Wayne and Tinton Falls to store and distribute marijuana and to launder money, the prosecutor’s office said.

The Wayne house, at 40 River Lawn Drive, contained marijuana packaging and money-laundering equipment, authorities said.

Police found about 100 pounds of marijuana, worth about $500,000, about $45,000 cash and a loaded .40-caliber, semiautomatic Glock handgun at the Tinton Falls home, along with hollow-point bullets, drug packaging equipment and two vehicles, one of which contained about 3 pounds of marijuana.

David Ku, 29, of Tinton Falls, and Daniel Ku, 26, of Matawan were arrested there, police said. Daniel Ku is a paralegal at a New York law firm, authorities said.

All four men were charged with possession and intent to distribute marijuana, and money laundering, the prosecutor’s office said.

David Ku, Daniel Ku and Bae were being held at the Bergen County Jail on $125,000, $100,000 and $75,000 bail, respectively, with no 10 percent option. Lynch was released on his own recognizance.

 “It was outstanding police work that led to the taking a serious amount of drug money and drugs off the streets of our state,” Abrams said Thursday.

In addition, James Norton, 38, of Lewis, N.Y., was arrested in Paramus on March 23, by prosecutor’s officers and Paramus police, after allegedly selling about 160 pounds of marijuana to undercover detectives. It was unclear whether or how his case was related to that of the other men. He was released on his own recognizance.