A truck driver and his passenger were arrested after Arizona Department of Transportation officers found $29,000 cash in their truck.
It happened on Tuesday, August 1st at the Sanders Port of Entry on Interstate 40.
The Arizona Department of Transportation reported that two men in truck arrived at the Port of Entry inspection station with “no registration, no trailer and a suspicious story.” After officers became suspicious, the two men granted permission for officers to search the truck.
Upon searching the truck, the officers found a small cooler stuffed with $29,000 in cash.
The two men claimed to know nothing about the money and said they had only been sent by the truck’s owner to pick up the truck in Gallup, New Mexico after it was abandoned.
ADOT used the truck’s license plate and ID number to find out that the truck had recently driven from Sacramento, California through Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico and finally Arizona. Records do not indicate that the truck picked up any cargo along the way.
A Navajo County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit alerted to the scent of drug residue on the stowed cash, as well as in other spots on the vehicle. No other signs of contraband were found.
ADOT seized the discovered cash and the two men in the truck were arrested on charges of providing false information and other commercial vehicle violations. The investigation is ongoing.