AZDPS seizes $10.7 million of drugs, 54 vehicles in August
Reported by: Katrina Wessman
Email: kwessman@abc15.com
Last Update: 12:08 pm

A DPS officer found 381 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop (Department of Public Safety) PHOENIX – Officers seized over $2.2 million in U.S. currency and $10.7 million worth of illegal drugs in Arizona in August, according to a Monday report.

Officers and criminal investigators with the Arizona Department of Public Safety uncovered $2,249,607 in U.S. currency, which was reportedly tied to Mexican drug cartels, drug distribution, money laundering, and gang activity.

DPS seized a total of 12,338 pounds of marijuana with current street values of $6,477,450.

Officers also found 162.3 pounds of methamphetamine with a street value of $3,083,700 and 92 pounds of cocaine worth approximately $1,148,000.

The total value of the illicit drugs seized by DPS in August is reportedly over $10.7 million.

DPS also seized 54 vehicles from drug smugglers and recovered 223 stolen vehicles.

The combined value of the recovered property is about $3 million, according to DPS.

One chop shop was also reportedly investigated and dismantled.

DPS said one of the more significant seizures by DPS in August occurred August 24th, when a DPS canine officer stopped a 2003 Ford Escape SUV for a traffic violation on eastbound Interstate 10 north of Tucson.

A consent search of the SUV apparently revealed 46 bundles of U.S. currency hidden in a speaker box in the rear cargo area.

The cash totaled $597,640 and the driver and single occupant of the vehicle, Edgar Antonio Gaxiola-Ochoa, 28, of Sonora, Mex., was arrested and booked into the Pima County Jail on the charges of money laundering, according to DPS.

The cash and vehicle were seized. Ochoa was reportedly traveling from California to Nogales, Mexico.


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