Authorities say they have seized 200 pounds of marijuana in the third large bust in less than a month at one Arkansas weigh station.
Around noon Sunday, the Arkansas Highway Police conducted a safety inspection at the Alma weight station on Interstate 40, according to a news release sent Wednesday.
A large amount of marijuana was found in the sleeper area of a tractor-trailer, the agency said.
The driver, 46-year-old Eduardo Ruiz of Miami, was transported to the Crawford County jail on charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Ruiz's name did not appear in jail records as of Wednesday morning.
The tractor-trailer, operated by Rio Miel Transport LLC of Miami, was reportedly transporting refrigerated foods from Platteville, Colo., to Anniston, Ala.
Over the past six months, Highway Police have made five major drug seizures at the Alma weigh station, the release states, including two in the last month.
Authorities said they found 340 pounds of marijuana and 2,340 units of cannabis oil in a tractor-trailer around 12:50 a.m. April 30.
The truck’s driver, 45-year-old Alan Ngo of Fountain Valley, Calif., was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and no record of duty status.
The other discovery happened April 22 when police tried to stop a tractor-trailer rig, which failed to stop until a pursuit began, the Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
The driver returned the rig to the weigh station, where it was inspected. After the inspection, the driver consented to a search, which yielded 201 bundles of marijuana weighing about 232 pounds. The driver and another person traveling on the truck were arrested.
Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said the hiring of additional staff has made the inspection of such vehicles possible.
"We have always had a focus on drug interdiction; however, last fall we graduated a new class of officers that have been staffed at the Alma weigh station as well as the one in Hope," Straessle said.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Noel Oman contributed to this story.