A man is facing federal drug charges after border authorities say they found 367 pounds of cocaine hidden in a tractor-trailer he was driving in northern Vermont.
U.S. Border Patrol found 142 “brick-shaped packages of a white powdery substance” hidden in a custom made compartment in the truck Jason Nelson was driving through the port of entry in Derby Line toward Canada on Dec. 7, according to court papers.
Jason Nelson is facing charges in federal court in Plattsburgh for possession with intention to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.
American border authorities first searched the blue tractor trailer Nelson was driving two days earlier, when he was traveling south through the entry point in Alexandria Bay, New York, court papers say. The truck, which had Quebec plates, was partially loaded with furniture destined for Tremont, Pennsylvania, according to paperwork.
While Border Patrol were searching his truck, they came across the hidden compartment, which a dog alerted to, according to an affidavit filed by a Homeland Securities Investigations agent. But the compartment was empty, and Nelson was allowed to proceed.
Then, early in the morning of Dec. 7, Nelson showed up at the border point in Derby Line, headed north to Canada, court documents say. He was driving the same truck he had crossed into New York in two days earlier.
He told officers he was “empty,” meaning he wasn’t carrying any cargo in the truck, according to the affidavit.
With the help of a Customs and Border Protection dog, named Scooby, agents again found the hidden compartment behind the front wall of the trailer.
There they located the 142 packages of white powder. Field tests found that the substance was consistent with cocaine.
Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Anthony Watson wrote in the affidavit that “when traffickers transport wholesale quantities of cocaine, like the quantity of cocaine found in [Nelson’s] trailer, they are usually working for, or are members of, larger drug trafficking organization.”
Nelson is due in court for a detention hearing later this week. His attorney did not immediately return an email seeking comment Sunday.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Border agents seize 367 pounds of cocaine in Derby Line.