A drug-sniffing dog helped a law officer in southwest Iowa make a sizeable drug bust on Wednesday. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says Deputy Brian Miller stopped a pickup truck for speeding on Interstate 80 at midday and found the man behind the wheel was pretty jumpy.
Sheriff Danker says Deputy Miller noticed the man’s hands were shaking and he appeared very nervous. Also, the car had a lived-in look, like he’d been on the road a long time, plus, the driver’s story seemed suspicious.
After issuing the driver a warning citation for speeding, Miller asked and was refused permission to search the vehicle. Danker says during the deputy’s free-air search around the vehicle with his K-9 partner, Francisco, the dog alerted to the presence of narcotics in the bed of the truck.
A search revealed three duffle bags containing a total of 90-pounds of marijuana in vacuum-sealed bags. Thirty-year old Andrew Ducharme, of Guilford, Connecticut, was arrested on a host of drug charges.
By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic