Street Value Put At Over $10 Million

FEDS: ROUTINE TRAFFIC STOP IN DUBLIN LEADS TO LARGEST VA. HEROIN BUST

Documents Say A Police Officer Got Suspicious After Finding Eight Shoes,
Each Weighing About A Kilogram, In A Backpack In The Car.

A state trooper uncovered the largest amount of heroin that federal
authorities say has ever been seized in Virginia after a routine traffic
stop on Interstate 81 in Dublin last week, according to court documents.
More than 4 kilograms of heroin, which federal prosecutor Tony Giorno
estimated has a street value of more than $10 million, was seized June 19
after state trooper G.R. Meredith stopped three men in a Dodge Durango,
according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court Tuesday.

Chief U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson ordered that two men who appeared
in court Tuesday, Mario Campos and Jorge Paredes, be detained on the
criminal complaint. They are in custody in Roanoke City Jail. The third
defendant, Victor Lugo, has also been arrested but has yet to appear in
federal court. Giorno said he will seek the indictment of the men in the
next federal grand jury session in July.

Meredith stopped the men because he saw something hanging from the rental
vehicle 's rearview mirror as it traveled north on I-81, according to an
affidavit sworn by Donald Canestraro, a special agent with the Drug
Enforcement Administration, in support of the complaint. Giorno was not
able to elaborate on what was hanging from the mirror but added that
Meredith also pulled the car over because it was changing lanes erratically.

Mario Campos, who was driving the car, and the two passengers, Jorge
Paredes and Victor Lugo, made some inconsistent statements, according to
the criminal complaint . Meredith then called in the police dog in Pulaski,
and the dog indicated there were drugs in the car, according to the
affidavit. Meredith got consent to search the car from the passengers, the
affidavit said.

Meredith found eight shoes in a backpack in the car, according to the
indictment. He got suspicious after he picked up the shoes and they each
weighed about a kilogram, Giorno said. Sewn inside the shoes were plastic
bags with a total of more than 4 kilograms of what tests later showed was
heroin, the affidavit said.

After the trio was arrested, Victor Lugo told law enforcement officials
they had picked up the backpack from an unidentified man in San Antonio.
Lugo said they were told to bring the backpack to New York City and then
call a phone number in Cali, Colombia, to find out where to bring the backpack.

Giorno said the case is still in the preliminary stages of investigation
and that he did not know the ages of the men or where they are from, beyond
that two of the defendants are from Colombia and the other is from Nicaragua.