In United States v. Johns, 469 U.S. 478, 483, 83 L. Ed. 2d 890, 105 S. Ct. 881 (1985) the Supreme Court addressed whether the automobile exception could apply when exigent circumstances did not exist at the time of the search. In Johns, Customs officers investigating drug smuggling operations arrested individuals at a remote Arizona airstrip. Id. at 480-81. The officers smelled the odor of marijuana wafting from the suspects' parked trucks and saw sealed packages stored in the truck beds. Id. Accordingly, the officers drove the trucks to Drug Enforcement Agency headquarters, searched the trucks, and stored the packages in a warehouse. Id. at 481. Three days later, officers, without a warrant, opened the packages and discovered marijuana. Id. After a federal grand jury indicted the defendants on drug-related charges, they successfully moved the district court to suppress the marijuana evidence as the fruit of an illegal search. Id. The Ninth Circuit affirmed, holding in relevant part that the automobile exception did not apply to justify a warrantless search of packages removed three days previously from the trucks. Id. The Supreme Court reversed, noting that prior cases discussing the automobile exception had not required that the warrantless search of a vehicle occur contemporaneously with its lawful seizure, and reasoning that the justification to conduct such a search "does not vanish once the car has been immobilized." Id. at 484. Consequently, the Court held that exigent circumstances are not required to justify a warrantless search under the automobile exception, and the officers acted permissibly by waiting until they returned to headquarters before searching the trucks and removing the packages. Id. Additionally, the Court concluded that the warrantless search of the packages was not unreasonable merely because the officers stored the packages for three days before opening them. Id. at 486-87. The Court pointed out that reaching the opposite conclusion would be of limited benefit to the person whose property is searched because officers would simply be compelled to immediately search all containers as soon as they are discovered during a vehicle search. Id. at 487. However, officers cannot indefinitely retain possession of a vehicle or its contents before completing a search. Id. Thus, the Court did not foreclose the possibility that a delayed search under the automobile exception could be successfully challenged if an owner of a vehicle or its contents could prove that any delay in the completion of a search adversely affected a privacy or possessory interest. Id. Because that was not the case in Johns, the Court upheld the search. Id. at 487-88.