RIDGELAND COP SEIZES $200K IN SUSPECTED DRUG MONEY

RIDGELAND -- An "extremely nervous" driver and a suspicious video cassette
recorder led a Ridgeland police officer to $205,790 in suspected drug money
during an Interstate 95 traffic stop Tuesday evening. The female driver in
her mid-30s told police she did not know the money was hidden in a
compartment in the floor boards of the 1995 Ford van after she was pulled
over for failing to stay in her lane, said Ridgeland Police Chief Richard
Woods.

The woman, whom police did not charge and would not identify, was
southbound from Buffalo, N.Y., to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and police
believe she was headed to pick up a shipment of cocaine to bring back
North.

The interdiction-trained officer, a member of the department's
Interstate Criminal Enforcement team, became suspicious during the
5:30 p.m. traffic stop when he noticed a VCR attached beneath the seat
even though there wasn't a television in the van, Woods said.

The department's drug dog alerted to the vehicle, Woods said, and
closer inspection showed the concealed compartment beneath the van.
The compartment was controlled by two electronic pistons that lifted
the passenger seat and opened part of the floor, he said.

"We're definitely having an impact on the drug trade," Woods said of
the department's drug interdiction success. "It may just be a minor
disruption for them, but nonetheless it's a lot of money and that's
going to create a setback.

"The law-abiding public would be shocked at what's going up and down
our highways."

South Carolina highways are patrolled by seven drug-interdiction
teams: Dillon County and the city of Dillon have a joint task force
and Dorchester and Charleston counties have a joint task force;
Florence and Colleton counties, and the city of Santee and Ridgeland
have interdiction teams. Highway Patrol also has an interdiction unit.

The departments keep 80 percent of seized money to spend on
drug-fighting tools and the Drug Enforcement Administration gets a 20
percent cut.

Since August 2002, when the Ridgeland Police Department began drug
interdiction, they have seized more than a half-million dollars in
suspected drug money and drugs with a street value of more than $5
million.

The department's largest marijuana seizure was in September when 50
pounds of the drug with an estimated street value of $250,000 was
discovered during an interstate traffic stop. The department's largest
cocaine seizure was in July when 30 kilograms valued at $4.2 million
was found during an interstate traffic stop. Its previous record cash
seizure was in November 2002, when a traffic stop yielded $120,779.