HOOVER POLICE BELIEVE BILLS FOUND IN DUFFEL BAG TO BE DRUG MONEY

Hoover police on Thursday showed off more than $500,000 cash they seized
from a truck driver hauling frozen turkeys on Interstate 459.

Police pulled over an 18-wheeler just south of the flyover exit at the
Riverchase Galleria for a traffic violation, Lt. Gregg Rector said.

They found the cash in a duffel bag inside the cab of the truck, but the
driver, a 23-year-old California man, said he knew nothing of the money or
how it got there, Rector said.

Police were able to confiscate the money under a federal law that allows
them to seize money believed to be linked to criminal activity. They let
the driver go after questioning him, however, because they had no authority
to hold him, Rector said.

The cash, which Hoover police suspect is drug money, was in assorted
denominations, including $1, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills, he said. No
drugs were found in the truck. The driver, pulled over about 4 p.m.
Wednesday, was traveling from North Carolina to Texas, Rector said.

Hoover police likely will get to keep 80 percent of the money about
$400,000 and the federal government likely will get the rest, according to
federal law. Whoever owns the money has the right to try to reclaim it
before a federal forfeiture judge hands it over to police, Rector said.

Wednesday's traffic stop was made by a police officer recently assigned
full-time to interstate drug interdiction.

"We know that there's drugs and money coming through town," Rector said.
"We have every intention of ... trying to stop some of the flow at least a
little bit of it."