Barstow police arrested a 32-year-old Arizona man after officers discovered nearly half a tonne of suspected cocaine hidden inside a semi-trailer during a traffic stop on Interstate 15.Authorities said the incident happened at around 12:14am on Saturday, 13 September, when officers pulled over a tractor-trailer for a vehicle code violation near Lenwood Road. The driver, later identified as Yuvari Singh, was contacted by police before a K9 unit was deployed around the trailer.“During the enforcement stop, officers contacted the driver, 32-year-old Arizona resident Yuvari Singh. A Barstow Police officer deployed his K9 around the tractor-trailer, which alerted to the trailer, indicating the presence of narcotics,” the police said in a statement.According to the Barstow Police Department, the dog alerted to the presence of narcotics. Officers informed Singh of the alert, and he consented to a search of the vehicle and trailer. “Officers advised Singh of the K9 alert, and Singh consented to a search of the vehicle and trailer. During the search, officers located 453 Kilograms of suspected Cocaine wrapped in packaging and concealed between boxes,” the department said in a statement.ABC7 reported that some of the packages were wrapped in bundles marked with images of notorious drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, according to photographs released by investigators.Singh was arrested on suspicion of possession of illegal narcotics for sale and transportation of illegal narcotics. He was booked into the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto. The seized drugs, weighing close to 1,000 pounds, were taken to the Barstow Police Department.The case remains under investigation.
