A routine traffic stop for speeding took a major turn on Wednesday when a Collier County Sheriff’s Office K9 sniffed out over two kilograms of cocaine hidden inside a truck. Deputies arrested 54-year-old Alfredo Perez Castillo of Naples following the stop.

Details of the Arrest

Castillo is currently being held in the Collier County jail, facing a severe charge of trafficking in cocaine between 28 grams and 150 kilograms. The incident started when deputies pulled over Castillo’s silver GMC pickup truck for speeding on Collier Boulevard, right near the intersection with Rattlesnake Hammock Road.

A K9 unit at the scene performed a free-air sniff around the outside of the truck. The dog quickly alerted to the smell of illegal drugs, which gave deputies the probable cause they needed to search the vehicle. During the search, deputies found two large bricks of cocaine sealed inside plastic bags resting on the rear passenger seat.

According to the sheriff’s office, the packages weighed in at a combined total of 2,038 grams. “This arrest is another example of our deputies and K9 teams working together to keep dangerous drugs off of our streets,” Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said following the arrest. “More than two kilograms of cocaine were seized before they could be distributed in our community.”

Records show Castillo is a convicted felon. At the time deputies pulled him over on Wednesday, he was already out of jail participating in a pretrial substance abuse diversion program related to a previous felony drug charge.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.