20 Pounds of Meth, 11 Pounds of Coke Reportedly Seized During Traffic Stop in Merced County
“An Oakland man was arrested in Merced County after a California Highway Patrol officer found approximately $781,600 in narcotics in his vehicle.
On March 29, at 2:40 p.m., a Central Valley CHP K-9 officer conducted an enforcement stop on a 2019 Jeep SUV for a traffic violation on northbound Interstate 5 (I-5), north of State Route 152.
During the contact, the officer saw what he believed to be bundles of narcotics in the front passenger compartment. The driver, 32-year-old Nestor Jovanni Muniz, was taken into custody. A search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of approximately 20 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and 11 pounds of cocaine were recovered.
Muniz was arrested and the case was turned over to the Merced Area Gang Narcotics Enforcement Team (MAGNET), which is a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Initiative(HIDTA) composed of law enforcement personnel from the California Department of Justice, the California Highway Patrol, the Merced County Probation, the Merced County District Attorney, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, and the Livingston Police Department, California. The driver, Muniz, was booked into the Merced County Jail on the charges of possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of cocaine for sale, and the transportation of methamphetamine across noncontiguous counties.”
