Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) enforcement agents arrested a subject for an alleged drug violation on Nov. 14 in St. James Parish.
LDWF agents were on patrol along the Mississippi River levee system on Nov. 14 when they conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle in St. James Parish. A St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived on the scene with a drug sniffing canine and detected drugs from within the vehicle.
LDWF agents detained the driver and transported him to a St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office facility. Search warrants from both the 23rd and 40th Judicial Districts were secured for the vehicle.
LDWF agents, assisted by deputies from both St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office and St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office, executed the search warrant. During the search, agents found two large functional vehicle batteries on the rear floorboard.
LDWF agents gained access to the inside of the batteries and found each battery contained four compressed blocks of suspected cocaine that were epoxied and sealed inside the battery along with a functioning power supply.
Agents conducted a field test of the powder from one of the compressed blocks, which indicated presumptive positive for the presence of cocaine. LDWF agents arrested the driver of the vehicle, seized the vehicle, and seized a total of over nine kilograms of suspected cocaine.
Because of the amount of suspected cocaine located within the vehicle, agents contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The driver was booked on federal charges for violations of Title 21 U.S.C. §841(a)(1) & (b)(1)(A) – the Knowing Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine, a Schedule II Controlled Substance in an amount of five kilograms or more.