A police officer in a small Alabama town found illegal immigrants transporting a lot of cocaine after stopping their car for a minor offense.
Calera Police Chief David Hyche said that last week, a police officer stopped a car going through town because it didn’t have a tag. Hiche said during the stop that “probable cause for a search was evident,” which is what led to the discovery of 46 pounds of cocaine.
After Homeland Security Investigations looks over what was taken, he said, the drugs’ monetary value will be known.
The driver and the passenger, both guys from Colombia who were in the U.S. illegally, were both arrested and charged with drug trafficking. Hiche said that one of the guys is wanted in Atlanta for drug trafficking and not showing up for court.
“We didn’t initially know where these two were from, what they had in their car or their immigration status,” said Hyche. “The choices these two men made led to this outcome.”
Along with that, Hyche said that the department is working with federal agencies to bring charges against the guys for drug crimes and immigration violations.
Police think the men were going from California to Miami. They took a different route than normal to avoid areas where drugs are usually stopped.
“If they chose I-65 to avoid heavy drug interdiction areas, it didn’t work out for them,” said Hyche.
In recent years, traffic stops for minor offenses have become less common, but Hyche pushed for them and told stories of how minor offenses saved two children who were in danger.
“Many police departments in the U.S. no longer stop people for small traffic violations.” “I have spoken out against this and other times when law enforcement leaders say sorry for following the law or change policy to make critics happy,” Hyche said. “We in law enforcement don’t make laws, we enforce them.”
The police chief also said that “weak and passive law enforcement” makes criminals more likely to do bad things.
Hyche also said that drugs today are different from when he first started working as a police officer many years ago. He said that drugs like heroin and cocaine are now cheap and easy to find because they’re coming across the border in large amounts.
“If we control the borders, the dope would be expensive,” he said. “At the border is where the answer lies.” “It can’t be here.”
Memphis, Tennessee, DA Matt Casey thanked the police department “for their great work protecting our community” and said that the two men would be held on a $10 million bond.
The police chief said he thinks this is the biggest bust in Shelby County’s history.
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