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U.S. Custom and Border Protection agents stop thousands of pounds of narcotics from crossing the border. Smugglers have come up with unique and creative ways to evade detection, including sneaking drugs through air-powered cannons and hidden in food.
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Deputies found packages of meth wrapped in tape and multiple layers of plastic.

Authorities seized about $280,000 worth of methamphetamine and cocaine during a traffic stop on Interstate 17 earlier this month, according to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

The seizure happened May 21, when a deputy pulled over a truck on northbound I-17 near Palo Verde for a traffic violation, said Dwight D’Evelyn, a sheriff’s office spokesman. The sheriff’s department released the information over Memorial Day weekend.

The driver, identified as Daniel Franco, 28, “acted unusually nervous and seemed confused about his travel plans” when the deputy approached him, D’Evelyn said. The deputy determined Franco did not have a license.

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The suspicious behavior, combined with the marijuana smell observed during a search of the truck’s interior, led the deputy to use his K-9 partner, D’Evelyn said. 

Together, they discovered 7 pounds of methamphetamine and three-quarters of a pound of cocaine hidden underneath the bed of the truck, the sheriff’s office released.

The methamphetamine deputies seized — found in packages wrapped in tape and multiple layers of plastic — is believed to be worth about $250,000, D’Evelyn said. The cocaine is worth an estimated $30,000, he added.

Franco “denied any knowledge of the drug load,” D’Evelyn said. He was booked into Camp Verde Detention Center on drug-trafficking-related charges, and remains there on a $10,000 bond.

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