A New York man has been arrested by the police after they found $2 million worth cocaine in a semi tractor-trailer in Indianapolis. The man has been identified as 32-year-old Vikram Sandhu, a resident of Queens.
The drug seizure took place on January 9 when the truck that he was driving was asked to pull over at the Interstate 70 traffic stop in Putnam County for a motor carrier inspection. A criminal indicator was detected during a conversation with Sandhu following which a canine unit was called to the scene, said the police.
A dog from the canine unit of Putnam County Sheriff’s Department alerted on the odour of illegal drugs.
When the police searched the semi, they recovered 115 pounds of cocaine from the sleeper berth. Sandhu was travelling from Houston, Texas, to Indianapolis.
“Sandhu was taken into custody and transported to the Putnam County Jail where he is currently being detained,” the Indiana State Police said in a press release.
He has been charged under sections dealing with narcotics and its possession.
In November last year, US law enforcement officials had seized more than one ton of cocaine allegedly shipped to the New York area from Puerto Rico, the largest bust of the drug in the region in over a decade.
The bust comes amid a 150 per cent increase in cocaine seizures over the past year in the area, said Ray Donovan, the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s special agent in charge for the New York division.