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CEDAR CITY -- A trooper found nine kilos of cocaine in a minivan he pulled over for speeding on Interstate 15 near Cedar City on Thursday.
The Utah Highway Patrol says the trooper pulled over a northbound minivan for traveling 11 miles over the speed limit. The trooper said when he approached the vehicle he could smell marijuana. The two people in the van— an 18-year-old male driver and 37-year-old female passenger-- admitted to recently smoking marijuana and gave permission to search the van.
The trooper called in a drug-sniffing dog, then noticed garbage, such as moldy french fries in a plastic bag, placed next to a plastic panel in the rear cargo area of the van. He thought it appeared to be purposely placed there to discourage a drug dog.
Troopers removed the panels and found packages containing a total of 9 kilos of cocaine.
