A transport vehicle stocked up with $700,000 worth of cocaine was stopped on it's way to West Palm Beach.
Mississippi Highway Patrol officials say they pulled the truck over on Interstate 10 for a fuel, weight, safety and paperwork inspection -- a routine inspection. But what they found was a trailer loaded with detergents, soap, and about 30 kilograms of cocaine.
MDOT officers were allegedly checking the truck's load to make sure it was secure when they noticed duct tape wrapped bundles in the back of the trailer that weren’t packaged the same as the other products.
A K-9 team from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department arrived and the dog indicated something suspicious was in the packages, agents said.
During the inspection, the truck driver, 47-year-old Pedro Barrios Jr., voluntarily told agents that his boss had instructed him to put braces on the cargo to keep the load from sliding.
Further investigation shows Barrios owns a trucking company and the truck he was driving.
Barrios was arrested on a charge of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
The truck was traveling from Laredo, Texas, to West Palm Beach, Florida.