DUSON, La. (KLFY) – A major drug bust in Duson.
Officials are now looking for suspects after finding more than $1.3 million worth of cocaine inside of a parked van at the Super 8 Motel off Interstate 10 in Duson.
According to officials, they found 12 packs of cocaine in the back hatch and side panels of a parked van.
“This drug would have been all over Acadiana and would have been really bad so kudos to the efforts of everybody working together,” Acadia Parish Sheriff K.P. Gibson said.
Multiple agencies responded Sunday after a Duson resident called 911 claiming someone hired him to drive the van from the motel to a location in Lafayette, according to Duson Police Chief Kip Judice.
“We know of a location in the city of Lafayette that they intended to go with these drugs at one point. But we don’t know if it was a drop-off or just a stayover,” Judice said.
Police are currently studying surveillance video from the motel. Judice said he doesn’t believe the van was used as bait to distract law enforcement so more drugs could pass through.
“1.3 million dollars is a lot of bait. You could probably do it with one little brick and it would make a lot of law enforcement present,” Judice said.
Duson Police, the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office are working together in this investigation.
“We all can do a great job in our own right. But together we’re more powerful than some of our individual parts,” Lafayette Parish Sheriff Mark Garber said.
So far officials have traced the van back to Tennessee.
Police are asking folks to contact either the Lafayette Parish or Acadia Parish Crime Stoppers if they have any information on the van or the suspects behind it.
(ORIGINAL) – Authorities seized $1.3 million worth of cocaine inside a van parked at a Duson motel on Sunday.
Duson Police Chief Kip Judice said several law-enforcement agencies responded to the Super 8 Motel in Duson after receiving a report of a vehicle with cocaine inside it.
Officers obtained a search warrant after canine officers with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office indicated controlled substances were stored or had recently been stored inside the vehicle.
Investigators found 12 packs of cocaine each wrapped in duct tape inside the back hatch and side panels of the vehicle, according to Judice.
Authorities have not yet made any arrests in the case but six law enforcement agencies including the Duson Police Department, Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, Lafayette Metro Narcotics Task Force, Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office, Louisiana State Police, and the Drug Enforcement Agency are still investigating the case.
