Traffic stop uncovers 9 kilos of cocaine in car batteries on Mississippi River levee

ST. JAMES PARISH, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents, working with deputies from St. Charles and St. John parishes, seized nine kilograms of suspected cocaine during a Nov. 14 traffic stop along the Mississippi River levee system in St. James Parish.

Agents were patrolling the levee when they stopped a vehicle and called for assistance from a St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy with a drug-sniffing dog. The canine alerted to possible narcotics inside the vehicle, and officers detained the driver and moved him to a St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office facility.

Search warrants were secured for the vehicle. During the search, LDWF agents and deputies from both parishes found two large vehicle batteries on the rear floorboard. Inside each battery, they discovered four compressed blocks of suspected cocaine that had been epoxied and sealed into the casing.

A test of powder from one of the blocks indicated a presumptive positive result for cocaine.

Agents arrested the driver and seized both the vehicle and the narcotics. Because of the quantity recovered, authorities contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The driver was booked for possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

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