ROUTINE TRAFFIC STOP TURNS INTO BIG COKE BUST

A routine traffic stop turned into anything but for a Utah Highway Patrol
trooper Friday.

Thirty-three kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value between $3
million and $6 million were seized thanks to an alert trooper.

The traffic stop occurred on I-15 near Kanarraville about 6:30 p.m. A
trooper noticed a vehicle was following another car too closely and his
windshield was illegally obstructed by stickers, said public safety
official Lt. Fred Swain.

When the trooper pulled the driver over, he noticed the strong smell of an
air freshener in the car and the smell of fresh Bondo.

The driver told the trooper he had been in Los Angeles for two weeks
visiting his mother. But when the trooper called his mother she said he had
only been there two days, Swain said.

After receiving permission to search the car, the trooper noticed the
vehicle's carpet was cut in a strange way and the matting was glued to the
floor, something car manufacturers don't do, Swain said.

The trooper then had his K-9 check the vehicle, and the dog immediately
"hit" on the area that was being inspected. The trooper found a metal
compartment and 16 kilos of cocaine inside.

After the driver was arrested and the car seized, an additional search
found two more compartments with 17 more kilos of coke. Swain said the
compartments were very sophisticated and very well constructed.

The compartments were set into the car, smoothed down and painted over to
make them hard to detect, Swain said. It took troopers more than four hours
using a sledgehammer and chisel to break into the compartments and find the
cocaine.

The driver, who had a Colorado driver's license and Illinois license
plates, was booked into the Iron County Jail for investigation of
possessing with intent to distribute. He could also face federal charges.