CANADIAN COUNTY, Okla. – Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Agents found over 100 pounds of 97% pure cocaine powder packed like bricks in the trunk of an SUV driving on I-40 on Monday.
It was making a cross-country trip from Mexico to Chicago, but the journey came to an abrupt end thanks to Canadian county officials, and one smart dog.
Cartel shipments from Mexico are usually broken up into multiple vehicles in hopes that if one gets stopped, the others will make it to their destination.
But 100 pounds worth in one car is rare and has OBN thinking there’s no telling how big the original shipment was before it crossed the border.
OBN Spokesman Mark Woodward says, “So many of the major drug routes bisect here in Oklahoma, specifically even Oklahoma City.”
OBN agents had their eyes on the suspicious SUV with Juan Nava-Guerra, Andrews Palma-Riva and Jorge Solis inside.
One of them was even dressed in full navy fatigues and had an expired U.S. Navy ID.
“Possibly as kind of a diversion technique thinking that maybe law enforcement won’t take a second look at somebody who is serving in the military,” says Woodward.
But they did and their K9 Alfa knew there was more to their story.
Alfa did exactly what she’s doing here and sniffed out one of OBN’s largest cocaine busts, enough cocaine that could have made these three millions.
“We’ve got 50 kilos with a street value at 1.5 million,” says Woodward. “But that easily by the time it gets to the users could be cut so many times that you’re looking at maybe five to ten million dollars.”
Agents say drugs travel our Oklahoma highways every day.
It’s not too often they see more than a million dollars’ worth but they say this simple traffic stop sure has opened their eyes.
“It tells you the volume that are coming into the United States on a daily basis and that’s very concerning,” says Woodward.
The car they were driving was rented in El Paso, Texas near the border so agents believe the drugs were coming from Mexico.
They are being held in the Canadian County jail on trafficking charges.
