HUGE COCAINE SHIPMENT SEIZED IN SUMMIT COUNTY

Jan. 12, 2001 - A state trooper who pulled over a pickup truck for
minor traffic violations near Frisco on Wednesday stumbled on to one
of the largest cocaine busts in Colorado history.

The discovery of about 70 pounds of cocaine - worth an estimated $4
million - in a hidden compartment in the truck bed led to the arrests
of driver Jose Granados, 32, of Gainesville, Ga., and passenger Ramon
Aburto, 31, of Oakwood, Ga.

"It's huge," said Lt. Curt Williams, director of the Front Range Drug
Task Force. "I'd be real proud if our guys did a 70-pound deal. That's
very impressive." The bust, by an unnamed trooper, occurred about 1:30
p.m., after the 1990 Toyota pickup was pulled over for failing to use
turn signals and failing to drive in a designated lane, according to
State Patrol spokesman Rob Marone.

"When they got the vehicle stopped, the driver gave consent to search.
Our CSP drug dog responded. The drug dog hit on the bed of the pickup.
When troopers investigated, they found a false storage compartment,"
he said.

Inside were 32 brick-size kilos of cocaine, believed to be the
third-largest drug seizure by state troopers in Colorado, and one of
the biggest hauls by any law-enforcement agency in the state.

The drug dog, one of six used by the State Patrol, is supported by a
federal grant designated for the Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area.

The truck was eastbound on Interstate 70, leading authorities to
speculate it was headed from the Mexican border near San Diego to the
metro area and beyond. Most of Colorado's drug supply is believed to
come through El Paso, Texas.

The two men were booked into the Summit County Jail on suspicion of
possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, a felony.