Drug find in Michigan leads to arrest of 2 men

2/14/2004

MONROE - Two Texas men were in custody yesterday after Monroe County sheriff s deputies discovered 15 kilograms of suspected cocaine bundled in a large duffel bag in the rear of their SUV.

Deputies were summoned to the Best Western Motel on North Dixie Highway about 4:10 a.m. Thursday by U.S. Border Patrol officers who had followed what they described as a suspicious vehicle to the Monroe-area hotel.

Deputies approached the men in their room and questioned them, receiving “evasive” answers to their questions. Sgt. Brett Ortolano s drug dog, Drake, swept the outside of the vehicle and indicated narcotics were inside, Monroe County sheriff s Captain Tom Hudson said.

The two suspects consented to a search of their vehicle. Inside, deputies discovered three one-foot-square blocks wrapped in duct tape, with each block containing five single kilogram packages of suspected cocaine, Capt. Hudson said.

The cocaine and the 2000 Ford Expedition were confiscated by the sheriff s office and the two men placed under arrest. Their names were not released.