ST. GEORGE — Deputies arrested a man on Thursday after finding large amounts of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine in after-market vehicle compartments during a traffic stop on Interstate 15.
On Thursday, a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy was following a car that was traveling north on I-15 in the fast lane at a speed slower than the posted speed limit. Instead of merging into the right lane that was clear, which impeded traffic, the driver of the car remained in the fast lane, according to charging documents filed with the court.
Just north of the Hurricane Exit, the deputy initiated a traffic stop for the alleged lane violation.
While speaking to the driver, identified by his California driver’s license as 25-year-old Rame Samir Darshalabi, the deputy noticed the passenger’s seat appeared to be a few inches higher that the factory-installed floorboard. The deputy also noticed a seam separating the two areas that was clearly visible from where he was standing.
This irregularity caused suspicion, as vehicles seen with after-market modifications are often found to be hidden compartments “commonly seen for smuggling contraband, such as narcotics, firearms, and currency,” according to the report.
The driver was asked to sit in the deputy’s vehicle while he was issued a warning for the lane violation, and during the conversation, the deputy advised he wanted to deploy his “narcotics detection dog” for a sniff around the exterior of the car.
The driver told the deputy he had nothing drug-related inside of the car and consented to a search in lieu of deploying the K-9, the report states.
During the search, the deputy heard a deep echo when he knocked on the passenger-side floorboard, and he saw that the previously noticed seam led to a void in the floorboard consistent with after-market modifications.
The deputy said using a digital scope to peer into the compartment, he could see several large bundles wrapped in plastic and secured with brown packing tape.
When asked, the driver reportedly told police he would be unable to access the hidden compartments, adding he didn’t know how to. He also said he did not know where the access points to the hidden traps were located but said he knew there were drugs inside of them, according to the report.
As it turned out, there were two hidden compartments, each running the length of the entire vehicle, with two separate access points located underneath the front seats.
Deputies located a set of loose wires hidden under the panels of the center console that were connected to an electronic unlocking mechanism for the latches that secured the compartments. Once those wires were connected to a power source, the latches unlocked and deputies were able to search the compartments, said Deputy Graham Hancock, with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
From the two compartments, deputies recovered three large bags containing 8.5 pounds of meth, 26 bundles of fentanyl pills weighing roughly 18.5 pounds, as well as two large “kilo” size bricks of suspected cocaine that weighed a total of 5 pounds.
The drugs were seized and the vehicle was impounded as evidence.
An agent with the Department of Homeland Security Investigations was also contacted to assist in the investigation, which also revealed the driver was paid $3,000 to transport the narcotics to Denver, Colorado.
The suspect was arrested and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility facing three second-degree felony counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and one misdemeanor count of altering a vehicle compartment for contraband.
Darshalabi is being held without bail.
According to a 2019 report released by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), if broken down into street-level sales, the value of 8 pounds of meth totals more than $198,400; the 26 bundles of fentanyl pills were valued at roughly $1.6 million; and the two kilos of cocaine had a combined value of nearly $280,000. All told, according to these calculations, deputies seized more than $2 million in suspected narcotics during the traffic stop.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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