Slow drive leads to drug arrest

Two Dade City residents were arrested on drug charges last week in New Mexico after a state police officer stopped them for driving too slowly on Interstate 40.

Jesus Cardenas, 17, and his cousin, Valentin Sanchez, 23, were nervous and nauseated and told different stories about where they were coming from, authorities said.

State police Sgt. Mike Valverde searched the car and found 15 pounds of methamphetamine. The street value of the drugs was estimated to be $750,000.

Valverde stopped the car driven by Cardenas as it neared Albuquerque on the busy interstate. The officer pulled Cardenas over because the vehicle was going well below the 75 mph limit and causing a line of cars and semitrailer trucks to back up behind him.

Cardenas told Valverde that he and Sanchez were being paid $4,000 to drive from their Dade City home to California, pick up the drugs and transport them back to Florida.

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