State police: K9 sniffs out kilo of cocaine after trooper stops speeding driver on Mass. Pike

AUBURN, Mass. — A state police K9 sniffed out a kilo of cocaine after a trooper pulled over a motorist who was speeding on the Massachusetts Turnpike early Tuesday morning, officials said.

A trooper patrolling the eastbound side of Interstate 90 in Auburn around 12:30 a.m. spotted a black Infiniti G35 sedan traveling at a speed of 93 mph in a 65 mph zone activated his lights and conducted a stop near mile marker 95 in Millbury, according to Massachusetts State Police.

Two occupants in the Infiniti, both of Gloucester, told the troopers that they were returning from Hartford, Connecticut, where they had gone to look at a truck, state police said.

After initially consenting to a search of the vehicle, the driver, 59-year-old Peter Horne, allegedly changed his mind and refused the trooper. A subsequent query of the vehicle revealed that both Horne and his passenger, 31-year-old Jose Agusto Baez, had been charged with narcotics offenses.

The trooper then determined that there was reasonable suspicion to believe there may be narcotics in the car and called in a K9 unit, according to state police. K9 Kyber entered the vehicle and immediately showed interest in an area behind a large speaker box and tried to repeatedly gain access to the trunk.

“He tried to jump into the trunk several times even though there was no room for him given the size of the speaker,” officials said in a statement.

Troopers then searched the area pointed out by Kyber and found a hidden purple bag with powder cocaine and suspected rock cocaine. State police said the powder weighed in at about 772 grams and the rock at about 202 grams.

Horne and Baez were arrested and booked on charges of trafficking more than 200 grams of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute a Class B narcotic, and conspiracy to violate drug laws. Horne was also hit with a citation for speeding.

It’s not clear when Horne and Baez will be called to court.

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