WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Traffic Stop Leads to Large Cocaine Bust

Traffic Stop Leads to Large Cocaine Bust

The Madison County Sheriff's department has won a small battle in the war on drugs. A deputy there confiscated twenty eight pounds of cocaine during a routine traffic stop of an 18-wheeler last week. Now the driver of the truck is in jail, facing drug possession and trafficking charges.

49-year-old Gregory Hilliard left Madison County court facing a 500-thousand dollar bond on cocaine possession and trafficking charges. Deputies found twenty eight pounds of the tightly packaged bricks in the cab of his truck after Hilliard gave them consent to search his rig during a traffic stop at the Gluckstad exit on I-55.

Captain Randall Tucker of the Madison Coounty Sheriff's Office says,"This is not your average street user type or amount.  It is a significant interdiction stop, bound for other areas of the country and possibly the state... probably around $300,000 - $400,000 on a wholesale street value, maybe $500,000 - $600,000." [

In some cases the Madison County Sheriff's department will use the person arrested and the drugs to make a controlled delivery in an attempt to arrest the person who was to recieve the drugs, but in this case they don't have any cooperation.

Gregory Hilliard told the judge he was driving for his father's trucking company. George Hilliard, Sr. was present at the court appearance, but declined to talk to us. Investigators don't believe he had any knowledge the drugs were in his truck.

Hilliard told the judge he resides with his wife and children in Texas. If convicted, he could make Mississippi his home, serving a prison sentence of up to thirty years.