Drug dog sniffs out $1.15 million in hidden money

2:18 PM, Jul 19, 2011
Written by Lindsey Tugman

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (CNN) -- It was the largest cash seizure in Montgomery, Alabama's history. Police found more than one-million-dollars inside in a tractor trailer. And the department has a police dog to thank.

An illegal lane change turned out to be a record-breaking traffic stop. It happened on interstate-65. Police say when officers asked to search the tractor-trailer, the driver complied. That's when drug dog Daisey sniffed out $1.15 million hidden in the truck.

According to the driver, he didn't know anything about it.

Police aren't sharing many details on the investigation. What we do know, the money is no longer in the driver's possession.

Veteran truck driver Lee Skolnick says he isn't buying it. He says it's nearly impossible to let such a large sum of money slip under the radar. But, he won't deny officers are cracking down on roadways across the southeast. He says, "If they feel the need, they'll open up the container and check it. And every truck driver should know exactly what's in their truck or their trailer."

Police say they aren't fishing with a broad net and the majority of the cases where cash or drugs are seized, it actually started as a minor traffic infraction. One person says, "Some of that money may be being used to buy drugs from Montgomery, Alabama."

If police can prove the money was being used for criminal activity, they get to keep 80-percent; money that must be marked for crime enforcement for purchases like Daisey, who sniffed out the cash, also purchased with drug money.

Col. Chris Murphy, director of the Alabama Dept. of Public Safety says, "It's just somewhere around $918,000. That is a tremendous impact on us."

Criminals seem to be bankrolling Montgomery PD's newest law enforcement initiatives.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/1 ... dden-money