Trooper seizes $1 million in drugs
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

A state trooper stopped a tractortrailer rig near Louise that contained more than $1 million in cocaine, bagged, bundled and bound for the Windy City.

Trooper Alfred Ochoa stopped the vehicle around 9 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 13 on U.S. 59 as it was making its way north from McAllen to Chicago, according to Pierce Department of Public Safety Sgt. Danny Terronez.

Ochoa pulled the rig over because it was driving on the shoulder of the highway, and the trooper felt the driver was extremely nervous while being questioned.

Ochoa asked the driver - Alfredo Campos, 37, of Penitas - about his travels and the trooper didn't feel the driver's story was plausible.

The trooper then asked and received consent to search the rig, which was carrying produce.

El Campo police officer Mark Biskup and his K-9 partner Apache were called to the scene, and the drug-sniffing dog alerted to both the truck and its trailer.

The tractor-trailer was taken to an undisclosed location, and inside troopers found 65 kilograms - 143 pounds - of cocaine in 50 separate bundles.

"They bagged and wrapped the cocaine, then smeared the outside with axle grease, then placed that inside another bag," Sgt. Terronez said.

"They were probably trying to fool the (drug-sniffing) dogs."

DPS estimates the street value of that much cocaine, if sold on the streets of Houston, at $1,137,500.

"If it had made it to Chicago, it would've been worth a whole lot more," Terronez said.

He called Sunday's seizure "signifi- cant," and said it is one of the largest so far this year by troopers in Texas.

"Troopers in Wharton County and throughout the state of Texas do an outstanding job on criminal interdiction whether it involves drugs or other (criminal charges)," Terronez said.

Campos was booked into the Wharton County Jail at 6 p.m. Sunday for manufacturing/delivery of a controlled substance.

He was held on $1 million bond as of 1 p.m. Monday.