It all started with just an illegal lane change on Interstate 25, but during that routine traffic stop, Pueblo cops discovered 100 kilograms of cocaine in the trunk of that car, The Pueblo Cheiftain reports. The cocaine has a street value of nearly $10 million.
KKTV reports that Monday morning, a Pueblo police officer pulled over a rental Chevy Malibu with California plates driven by Mark Bailey. The officer discovered that Bailey’s license was suspended and noticed that Bailey’s passenger Lisa Calderon was acting nervous when they asked her questions about where the pair were headed.
The Denver Post reports that during the questioning, the officer saw that back of the car was noticeably weighed down so he called in for backup, which included a drug sniffing dog who sniffed out the kilo bricks of cocaine stuffed inside of several duffle bags in the car's trunk. “This is the biggest seizure by the city police department in it’s history,” Deputy Chief Andrew McLachlan said.
A bust of this size obviously makes a big impact on the illegal drug trade, but in this case, authorities still don't know where this cocaine was headed or where it even originated from, KOAA reports.
Kevin Merrill, of the Drug Enforcement Administration, recently told PBS that I-25 is one of the "major corridors" for drug trafficking for the entire country.
Just as recently as the last week of August a similar routine traffic stop on I-25 near Pueblo yielded a large crystal meth bust worth approximately $750,000.
Pueblo Police arrested 37-year-old Mark Bailer and 36-year-old Lisa Calderon on suspicion of possession charges. The pair are originally from Sylmar, Calif., according to CBSDenver.