Traveling Texas truckers nabbed in highway drug bust

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
Feb. 22, 2003
Two Texas men remained in the Lauderdale County jail Friday after being charged with carrying more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana in a tractor trailer hauling broccoli.
Gaudalupe Sifuentes, 54, of Edinburg, Texas, and Agustin Borroel Jr., 22, of Elsa, Texas, were charged with possession of more than a kilo of marijuana with intent to distribute. They were being held on $200,000 bond each.
Officers with the Mississippi Department of Transportation stopped the men Thursday night while they were traveling in Meridian on Interstate 20/59. Meridian police assisted in the arrest.
MDOT officers initially made a routine check of the men's truck and paperwork. The officers, however, began to suspect that drugs were hidden in the sleeper area of the tractor trailer.
MDOT officers requested Meridian police to bring their drug dogs to the scene. Officers then discovered 1,022 pounds of marijuana in a false compartment in the sleeper area.
MDOT officers primarily enforce the state's truck size and weight laws.
But because of an increased influx of drugs through Mississippi in recent years, MDOT has joined with law enforcement agencies statewide in an effort to stop the transportation of drugs.
Huff said the Thursday arrest came about a month after two other men were charged with possessing marijuana in Meridian while also hauling broccoli.