A man carrying 55 pounds of suspected methamphetamine in gift-wrapped boxes was arrested for drug trafficking near Louisville, Ky., on Monday. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE
Dec. 27 (UPI) — A Nebraska man was arrested near Louisville, Ky., when police found 55 pounds of suspected methamphetamine in Christmas wrapping inside his vehicle’s trunk on Monday.
Jeffersontown Police Department officers arrested Jacob Talamantes, 23, while he was at a shopping center near the Bluegrass Parkway after a police dog detected drugs in his 2013 Chevrolet Malibu.
Police officers searched his vehicle and found the meth in gift-wrapped boxes inside the trunk and arrested him.
“No amount of festive wrapping can disguise the harm these drugs inflict on families and communities,” JPD Chief Richard Sanders said in a news release.
“The coordinated efforts of partner agencies ensured these holiday-wrapped packages never reached the streets,” Sanders said.
The police were conducting a drug investigation at the shopping center when the dog alerted them to the drugs when Talamantes arrived in the vehicle, WLWT reported.
He tried to walk away from the police, but they detained him.
Talamantes told officers he was driving from Iowa and intended to traffic the drugs, and he was arrested and charged with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.
The Drug Enforcement Agency and Kentucky State Police assisted with the arrest and are helping with the investigation into the matter.
Jeffersontown is located about 15 miles southeast of Louisville.