GSP Takes $1M in Cocaine From Car Stop in Cobb County

A California man is in the Cobb County jail after Georgia state troopers arrested him for trafficking 40 kilos of cocaine through Cobb County earlier this month, a Georgia State Patrol report says.

Jesus Paredes-Chavez was pulled over on the Canton Road Connector on the Interstate 75 south on-ramp just before 4 p.m. on Sept. 4 when a state trooper noticed him following another driver too closely. Chavez told the trooper that the 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee belonged to a friend, though he did not know the friend’s last name. A search of the vehicle’s registration showed the registered owner did not have the same first name as Chavez’s friend.

The trooper noticed Chavez “was visibly shaking and his pulse was clearly visible in his neck,” but was going to let Chavez off with a warning when he asked for permission to search the vehicle. Chavez consented to the search; once inside the Jeep, the trooper noticed an unusual modification to the cargo floor. The trooper looked under the vehicle and saw the floor had been cut and modified and truck bed liner had been sprayed on the underside of the Jeep.

Chavez was placed in a patrol car while the search continued; once the floor panels were removed, an aftermarket sheet of metal was found and lifted out of place. Inside the hollow space were 40 plastic wrapped bundles of cocaine, each weighing a kilo and worth $1.24 million in total.

Cobb County jail records show that Chavez, a Mexican national, has been charged with cocaine trafficking and following too closely. He is being held without bond and an immigration hold has been placed on him, the records indicate.