Pubdate: Sun, 01 Sep 2002
Source: Deseret News (UT)
Copyright: 2002 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.desnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/124
Author: Pat Reavy, Deseret News staff writer

ROUTINE TRAFFIC STOP TURNS INTO BIG COKE BUST

A routine traffic stop turned into anything but for a Utah Highway Patrol 
trooper Friday.

Thirty-three kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value between $3 
million and $6 million were seized thanks to an alert trooper.

The traffic stop occurred on I-15 near Kanarraville about 6:30 p.m. A 
trooper noticed a vehicle was following another car too closely and his 
windshield was illegally obstructed by stickers, said public safety 
official Lt. Fred Swain.

When the trooper pulled the driver over, he noticed the strong smell of an 
air freshener in the car and the smell of fresh Bondo.

The driver told the trooper he had been in Los Angeles for two weeks 
visiting his mother. But when the trooper called his mother she said he had 
only been there two days, Swain said.

After receiving permission to search the car, the trooper noticed the 
vehicle's carpet was cut in a strange way and the matting was glued to the 
floor, something car manufacturers don't do, Swain said.

The trooper then had his K-9 check the vehicle, and the dog immediately 
"hit" on the area that was being inspected. The trooper found a metal 
compartment and 16 kilos of cocaine inside.

After the driver was arrested and the car seized, an additional search 
found two more compartments with 17 more kilos of coke. Swain said the 
compartments were very sophisticated and very well constructed.

The compartments were set into the car, smoothed down and painted over to 
make them hard to detect, Swain said. It took troopers more than four hours 
using a sledgehammer and chisel to break into the compartments and find the 
cocaine.

The driver, who had a Colorado driver's license and Illinois license 
plates, was booked into the Iron County Jail for investigation of 
possessing with intent to distribute. He could also face federal charges.
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MAP posted-by: Beth