An Athens man was being held in a Mississippi jail Thursday after authorities said he was stopped on I-20 with more than $300,000 worth of cocaine hidden in his vehicle.
Saul Camacho Silva appeared before a municipal court judge in Pearl on Thursday, the suspect’s 22nd birthday, and bond was set at $150,000, according to an official at the Rankin County jail.
Pearl police spokesman Butch Townsend said Silva was traveling on I-20 east of Jackson just after midnight Wednesday when an officer noticed his BMW SUV crossing the line next to the shoulder of the road.
Townsend said Silva was pulled over and he consented to a search of the vehicle. Police said they found 7 kilograms of cocaine in the firewall, the area between the engine compartment and interior of the vehicle.
Silva was charged with possession with the intent to deliver.
“Current street value of the confiscated cocaine, as it is, would be approximately $315,000,” Townsend said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The value would be much more than this once the drug was processed for illegal street sale.”
Silva remained in the Rankin County Jail on Thursday.
About the Author
