Major Drug Bust

A nervous driver aroused the suspicions of Ouachita Parish sheriffs deputies. And for apparent good reasons. This arrest took five kilograms of powder cocaine off the streets. And it was a busy day at Metro Narcotics- while our cameras were at their headquarters - agents make an unrelated arrest right across the street. Almost 30 years ago when Willis Watson patrolled the streets of Monroe drugs were a problem. He tells us, "Probably marijuana was the main thing on the streets". Things have changed a lot since then. Its a massive amount of drugs: Five kilograms of cocaine. Lt. Larry Knight with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff Department, "It has a street value of approximately a half a million dollars". Griffin Scott, "Ever wonder what a half million dollars worth of dope looks like? Well Im about to show you. Come right over here. You see, this is 500 thousand dollars worth of powder cocaine. Each one of these bricks is worth 100 thousand dollars. Ouachita Parish sheriffs deputies, a SCAT team actually, pulled over an 18 wheeler in front of Pecanland Mall on Thursday and pulled all of this dope out of this backpack". The driver of the semi 41 year old Jorge Torres of El Paso Texas is behind bars at the Ouachita Parish Correctional Center. Torres is being held on 75 thousand dollars bond. Lt. Larry Knight, "He was based out of El Paso and traveling to I believe Savannah, Georgia". Everyday 10s of thousands of cars travel along I-20 passing through Northeast Louisiana and in many of those cars youll find illegal narcotics destined for the east coast". Willis Watson, "Yeah its definitely a corridor for it". Lt. Larry Knight, "We have it running right through our area and its a large amount that goes through". It was anything but casual Friday at Metro Narcotics. While we there agents hustled us out of the building and rushed across the street. An officer on the scene told us that while questioning a suspect deputies answered his cell phone. The person calling wanted to purchase drugs. Officers told them to come on down, and they did. With major busts and street level buys never ending I asked Lt Knight if he ever felt frustrated. Lt. Larry Knight, "Yeah, its part of the job. I mean when you see and think about how much travels into our community". According to the U.S. Department of Justice Louisiana’s geographic location places it on several major routes to source cities. Continued drug seizures on highways in Louisiana and neighboring states indicate the problem is not decreasing, in spite of increased law enforcement pressure.