On Monday afternoon February 6, Deputy Johnson with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Interdiction Team made a traffic stop on a Ford Passenger Van on Interstate 20 for a traffic violation.
During a roadside interview, the deputy became suspicious of the discrepancies in the driver and passenger’s stories and requested a K-9 deputy.
Deputy Decell with his K-9 partner “Fox” responded to the traffic stop and searched the suspect vehicle. K-9 Deputy Fox alerted on the vehicle and approximately 44 Kilograms of cocaine was discovered hidden inside the vehicle.
Both the driver and passenger were arrested for “Aggravated Trafficking of a Controlled Substance” and were taken to the Rankin County Jail.
The driver is identified as 54-year-old Mario Robledo-Jaurigi, and the passenger was identified as 50-year-old Fernando Santiago-Arcuri both from Houston, Texas.
District Attorney “Bubba” Bramlett will bring both suspects before Rankin County Court Judge David Morrow for an Initial Appearance.
Source: Rankin Co. SO
