THP Trooper Stops 18-Wheeler in Jefferson County
Nashville, Tennessee —A Tennessee State Trooper stopped an 18-wheeler on I-40 Sunday afternoon in Jefferson County and ended up seizing 63 kilos of cocaine.
On January 13th at approximately 3:40 p.m., Trooper Mark Self, stopped a 2005 Freightliner for speeding 85 in a 55 mile per hour zone on I-40 east bound at the mile marker 419 rest area. Upon stopping the suspect vehicle, Trooper Self asked the driver for his commercial license, log book and medical card and what type of load he was hauling. The driver indicated he was hauling produce to Bronx, New York. An examination of the driver’s log book revealed two shipments from California and a shipment from Yuma, Arizona with a 14 hour lay over.
After noticing that the driver was in violation of the 11 hour driving time and not taking required sleep, Trooper Self became suspicious and contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and K-9 Deputy Steve Arnold. At this time, a check of the driver’s commercial driver license (CDL) revealed that he had prior arrests for drug possession and had been deported to Mexico in 1998. A short time later, Deputy Arnold’s K-9 alerted for drugs on the back of the trailer. The driver told investigators there were no drugs and consented to a search.
Upon questioning the driver and a male passenger, Trooper Self noticed the passenger began to exhibit nervous behavior and the subject indicated that there were drugs in the trailer. Both were placed in the patrol car while the load could be off-loaded for further search. While unloading the trailer in the rest area to inspect the cargo, Troopers and investigators from the THP Criminal Investigation Division (CID) uncovered 63 kilos of cocaine in the fourth pallet. The drugs carry an estimated street value of $1.5 million dollars.
“This is another example of a Trooper looking beyond the traffic stop and citation to uncover larger criminal activity,” said Colonel Mike Walker. “It’s also another example of local, state and federal law enforcement working together to get large quantities of illegal drugs and criminals off our highways.”