CASA GRANDE, AZ — Two women were taken into custody after deputies seized $48,000 worth of methamphetamine during a traffic stop near Casa Grande on Thursday.
According to the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, the driver, 31-year-old Martha Rabago Ibarra, and passenger, 43-year-old Maria Franco Alvarez, have been charged with transportation of dangerous drugs for sale and possession of dangerous drugs for sale.
Officials say both women are Mexican nationals.
At 3:30 p.m., a deputy conducting traffic enforcement along Interstate 10 stopped the vehicle for a moving and equipment violation.
As the deputy was approaching the vehicle, he noticed "several suspicious circumstances" and had his K9 partner do an exterior sniff of the vehicle.
The deputy was then able to uncover 16 cellophane-wrapped bundles of methamphetamine in hidden compartments of the vehicle, which totaled nearly 18 pounds.
“Without the hard work of our K9 deputy, those bundles of methamphetamine would have disappeared into communities across Arizona and our nation,” said Sheriff Mark Lamb in a news release.
