Arkansas State Police Troopers recently made major drug and currency seizures along Interstate 40.
In the first of the arrests, troopers seized more than 850 pounds of illegal marijuana. In the second, they found nearly $200,000 in cash. Each violation involved drivers of tractor-trailers.
On Dec. 5 an ASP trooper stopped a 2016 tractor-trailer eastbound near the six-mile marker in Crawford County for a traffic violation. A search of the trailer revealed 12 large cardboard boxes and five large trash bags containing high-grade illicit marijuana with a total weight of 724 pounds.
Troopers arrested the driver, Zaida Sherif Juhar, 35, of Atlanta, Georgia, who was transported to the Crawford County Detention Center and booked on felony charges of trafficking a controlled substance. Juhar told investigators he was traveling from Elk Grove, California, to Henrico, Virginia.
Later that afternoon troopers stopped a second tractor-trailer traveling westbound on I-40 near Morrilton, also for a traffic violation. A search of the truck and trailer led to the discovery of $195,925 in U.S. currency concealed in the sleeper portion of the cab. The driver of the second semi was related to Juhar. The cash was seized as part of the continuing investigation.
