Officials seize nearly $30K in small cooler on Arizona border
Aug 3, 2017, 4:59 PM
(Arizona Department of Transportation Photo)
(Arizona Department of Transportation Photo)
PHOENIX — Two men were arrested and nearly $40,000 was seized this week after officials became suspicious of a truck stopped on the Arizona-New Mexico border.
The Arizona Department of Transportation said the truck was stopped at an entry point on Interstate 40 on Tuesday when the arrests were made.
Officials said two men were in the truck that had no registration and no trailer. A search for the truck’s paperwork revealed a small cooler containing $39,000 in cash tied with rubber bands.
The men said they had no knowledge of the cash and had been sent to pick up the truck by its owner after it was abandoned in Gallup, New Mexico.
Further investigation revealed the truck had traveled through California, Utah, Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico without picking up cargo.
A Navajo County Sheriff’s Office drug-sniffing dog alerted to several spots on the truck, along with the money in the cooler. No drugs were found.
The men, neither of which were publicly identified, were booked into the Apache County Jail on various misdemeanor charges, including providing false information.
