MCLEAN, TX (AP) -- Authorities in the Texas Panhandle say they've arrested an Arkansas man with 920 pounds of marijuana in his van - the biggest pot bust in the region this year.
The Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday announced last week's bust of Narciso Avila, a 42-year-old man from Caddo Gap, Ark. He was arrested after troopers pulled him over for a traffic violation on Interstate 40 near McLean, about 75 miles east of Amarillo, according to the agency.
DPS says he was driving from Arizona to Washington, D.C. Information on whether Avila had an attorney was not immediately available Monday.
A drug dog alerted to the marijuana after the driver refused to let the troopers search the van. The marijuana was wrapped in cellophane and inside boxes, DPS trooper Gabriel Medrano said. The street value of the pot was estimated at about $460,000, the release states.
Avila, who was traveling alone, was released from the Gray County Jail on Monday on $50,000 bail.
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