Dec. 27 (UPI) — A Nebraska man was arrested near Louisville, Ky., when police found 55 pounds of suspected methamphetamine in Christmas wrapping inside his vehicle’s trunk on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeffersontown Police Department officers arrested Jacob Talamantes, 23, while he was at a shopping center near the Bluegrass Parkway after a police dog\u2002detected drugs<\/a> in his 2013 Chevrolet Malibu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Police officers searched his vehicle and found the meth in gift-wrapped boxes inside the trunk and arrested him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No amount of festive wrapping can disguise the harm these drugs inflict on families and communities,” JPD Chief Richard Sanders said in a news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The coordinated efforts of partner agencies ensured these holiday-wrapped packages never reached the streets,” Sanders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The police were conducting a drug investigation at the shopping center when the dog alerted them to the drugs when Talamantes arrived in the vehicle,\u2002WLWT reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He tried to walk away from the police, but they detained him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Talamantes told officers he was driving from Iowa and intended to traffic the drugs, and he was arrested and charged with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Drug Enforcement Agency and Kentucky State Police assisted with the arrest and are helping with the investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n