Two arrested with $217K in car

Posted October 26, 2009 at 3 p.m. , updated October 26, 2009 at 3 p.m.

Two men from Mexico were arrested Friday by drug agents during a traffic stop on Interstate 5 after a drug-sniffing dog allegedly picked up the smell of narcotics.

But instead of finding drugs, agents found $217,815 in a hidden compartment inside their car, said Lt. Jeff Foster, the director of the North State Initiative California Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team.

Foster said the men, Daniel Alvarez Valencia, Jr, 40, and Agustin Gutierrezvalencia, 19, had likely just made a shipment of drugs to Washington and were carrying cash they’d made back to Southern California when they were stopped near Wonderland Boulevard.

The men were being held today at the Shasta County jail on suspicion of immigration violations and for having a hidden compartment in their car.

http://www.redding.com/news/2009/oct/26 ... -217k-car/