WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins was in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, to announce a joint operation between Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
On Oct. 5, in a coordinated operation between FHP and the DEA, a semi-truck suspected of transporting narcotics from the Mexico-Texas border was stopped and searched while traveling southbound on the Florida Turnpike.
The DEA’s West Palm Beach office alerted FHP that the truck was suspected of transporting narcotics. West Palm Beach Police Chief Tony Araujo said only that the traffic stop happened "in a county north of here."
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During the inspection, FHP troopers found a hidden door in the truck, which held bags full of cocaine. Approximately 173 kilograms of cocaine were seized, with an estimated street value of $17.3 million.
They say one of the people in the truck had previously been deported from the U.S.
"This is what happens when our local, state and federal assets work together," said Collins, flanked by bricks of cocaine.
"With the southern border shut down, transnational narco cartels can no longer simply walk across the border with guns, drugs, and human couriers," said Dave Kerner, executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. "This forces cartels to attempt to move large amounts of narcotics in a way that allows the full weight of law enforcement efforts to not just interdict, but to investigate the supply chain back to their point of origin."
The people apprehended have been transferred to federal custody. No names have been released.
