Driver of truck loaded with $13 million in cocaine arrested in Indiana

Updated Dec 9, 2022
Table with cocaine and police dog
IMPD K9 Mina with almost 300 pounds of cociane
IMPD

A Texas trucker was arrested recently when police found 286 pounds of cocaine in his truck. The drugs were valued at $13 million.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers received a tip that a tractor-trailer would pass through Marion County Nov. 30. 

According to court records, the investigation began with a tip that someone was driving a shipment of drugs in a red semi with a white trailer and Texas plates.

Detectives located the truck at a rest area on Interstate 70 at mile marker 64 in Hendricks County.

IMPD narcotics K9 Mina made a positive indication of drugs on the truck, and detectives obtained a search warrant. They found the cocaine hidden in a false ceiling attached to ropes. 

Officers interviewed and arrested the driver, 50-year-old Mauro Alonzo-Vargas of Ennis, Texas.

Police claim the driver said he pulled over at the rest area before he planned to make a legitimate delivery in Plainfield.

According to the affidavit, Alonzo-Vargas confessed he owned the truck but claimed he didn’t know about the drugs.