Police in Arkansas report the apprehension of two truckers in two separate traffic stops. The twist is that the drivers were related.
According to a media release issued late Thursday, Arkansas State Police (ASP) troopers made three drug and currency seizures along Interstate 40 in the past week, resulting in two arrests and the confiscation of more than 850 pounds of illegal marijuana and nearly $200,000 in cash.
On Friday, December 5, ASP ssid at approximately 12:15 p.m., a 2016 tractor-trailer going eastbound near the 6-mile marker in Crawford County was stopped for a traffic violation.
A search of the trailer revealed 12 large cardboard boxes and five large trash bags containing high-grade illicit marijuana with a total weight of 724 pounds.
The driver, Zaida Sherif Juhar, 35, of Atlanta, Georgia, was arrested and transported to the Crawford County Detention Center and booked on felony charges of Trafficking a Controlled Substance. Juhar told investigators he was traveling from Elk Grove, California, to Henrico, Virginia.
ASP said that around around 2 p.m. the same day, troopers stopped a second tractor-trailer traveling westbound on I-40 near Morrilton, also for a traffic violation. A search of that truck and trailer led to the discovery of $195,925 in U.S. currency concealed in the sleeper portion of the cab. The driver of the second semi was related to Juhar. The cash was seized as part of the continuing investigation.
Bruce Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has lived in three states including Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia. During his nearly 20-year career, Bruce has served as managing editor and sports editor for numerous publications. He and his wife, Dana, who is also a journalist, are based in Carrollton, Georgia.
