FDACS reports trucking seizures, arrests

FDACS reports trucking seizures, arrests In an unusually busy week, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services said Friday it had made three arrests and seizures in connection with high-value thefts of goods and equipment being shipped in and out of Florida.
   The equipment and goods seized include a stolen tractor-trailer, an estimated $100,000 in medicines, four flat-screen plasma television sets and an assortment of power tools.   
   “Our law enforcement officers are continuing to uncover stolen goods and other contraband at our interdiction stations,” FDACS Commissioner Charles H. Bronson said.    “They have become an indispensable part of Florida’s homeland security efforts.
   All the arrests and seizures were made in connection with trucked shipments.
   In one case, officers at the eastbound I-10 Interdiction Station in Suwannee County searched a tractor-trailer heading for Miami because of irregularities in its bill of lading. The truck was hauling $100,000 in over-the counter medicines, which were reported stolen from Cold Springs, Nevada, three weeks ago. Authorities said the two occupants of the vehicle are cooperating with the investigation and have not been charged with any criminal offense.
   Another incident occurred at the southbound I-95 Interdiction Station in Nassau County. Officers determined during a routine inspection of a tractor-trailer that the vehicle had been reported stolen in Mecklenburg, North Carolina, earlier this week.    The driver and occupant of the vehicle were arrested on grand theft charges and booked into the Nassau County Jail.
   In a third incident, officers at the westbound I-10 Interdiction Station in Suwannee County searched a tractor-trailer heading out of Florida and determined that the driver was hauling four flat-screen plasma television sets and an assortment of power tools purchased in Broward County with a stolen credit card. The driver was charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property.    He was booked into the Suwannee County Jail.
   FDACS officials said that over the last three years, officers have recovered an estimated $23 million in drugs, stolen goods and contraband at interdiction stations.