North Carolina police say that they have arrested two man after discovering tens of millions of dollars worth of liquid methamphetamine stowed away in a semi truck’s fuel tank.
According to Harnett County Sheriff Wayne Coats, 49 year old truck driver Raul Topete Arreola was arrested on May 19 and charged with three counts of trafficking methamphetamine.
The arrest came after months of investigation conducted by the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau Investigation into methamphetamine trafficking.
From a release from Sheriff Coats:
“On May 19, investigators seized a 2009 Peterbilt semi-truck that was driven by Raul Topete Arreola, a 49 year old Hispanic male from California, near the 100 block of Will Lucas Road in Linden, NC. The investigation led to the discovery of 120 gallons of liquid methamphetamine that was stored in the driver’s side fuel tank on the semi-truck. 120 gallons of liquid methamphetamine would be converted to approximately 454 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine. When converted the kilograms of crystal methamphetamine would have a street value of 90.8 million dollars.“
Forty-eight year old Georgia resident Aquileo Perez Pineda was also arrested during the course of the investigation. Pineda was also charged with three counts of trafficking methamphetamine.
The two men are being held on a $3 million bond.
The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office says that an immigration detainer has been issued for Pineda and that federal authorities are looking into the immigration status of Arreola.