A 42-year-old California man was arrested in Mesa County on Sunday after deputies found 67 pounds of drugs hidden in an external fuel tank of a pickup truck.
Donald Martinez-Guevara is being held on charges of distribution and possession of drugs with intent to distribute, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
At about 7 p.m. Sunday a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the Western Colorado Drug Task Force stopped a truck on Interstate 70 at the Mack interchange, west of Grand Junction, the release said.
The driver failed to use a turn signal while changing lanes and a rear license plate light was inoperative, the sheriff’s office said.
An external fuel tank in the back of the truck “didn’t have any fuel residue that is usually present with that type of fuel tank,” the release said. “Once permission was obtained, the deputy searched the truck.”
Several plastic wrapped packages containing a crystalline substance “consistent with methamphetamine” was found inside the tank. One package contained 1.8 pounds of pills consistent with fentanyl, the release said. The total weight of the drugs was 67.2 pounds.
Martinez-Guevara is being held in the county jail on a $100,000 bond.
