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CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) -- Nearly 11 pounds of methamphetamine, worth at least $500,000 and possibly twice that, was found in a pickup truck stopped in Beaver County, officers said.
Javier R. Reyes, 40, Longmont, Colo., was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Beaver County Jail on $500,000 cash-only bail on suspicion of various drug offenses.
Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Brian Bairett said Reyes was pulled over for a window tint violation and expired registration.
"The trooper suspected illegal activity and that the driver may have been under the influence of an illegal narcotic while operating the vehicle," Bairett said. A drug-sniffing police dog reacted positively to the vehicle and it was searched.
Some of the drugs were found hidden in a car battery in the cargo area of the pickup.
Bairett said Reyes told officers the cargo was picked up in San Diego and was being taken to St. Paul, Minn.
Brent Dunlap, special agent with the Utah Department of Public Safety and the state Bureau of Investigation, said the street value of the drug as packaged would be a half million dollars.
"It's pure enough they would have to stomp it and cut it," Dunlap said. "It could double in value depending on the purity. They could get $1 million out of it."
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
