State trooper finds $11.9 million worth of cocaine
TODAY: (Updated 6:33 p.m.) An Illinois State Police trooper seized an “enormous” amount of cocaine worth $11.9 million this week during a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in Henry County, Ill.
Rene Sandoval with the Quad-City Metropolitan Enforcement Group said it is one of the largest drug seizures ever in the Quad-City area, ranking it easily in the top five.
Yves Lebon, age and address unavailable, was charged in U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, Rock Island, with intent to distribute cocaine. He is due in court Monday for a hearing.
Lebon was the lone occupant of a vehicle pulled over for a traffic stop Wednesday, according to court records. The exact location of the stop was not detailed in court records and officials were not releasing more details.
According to an affadavit filed in court, the trooper wrote Lebon a warning for an unspecified traffic violation then asked for and received Lebon’s consent to search the vehicle. The trooper found camping gear and several duffle bags in the trunk. The bags contained 119 kilograms of cocaine, the affadavit reported.
“It’s a phenomial seizure,” Sandoval said. “This one here is absolutely enormous.”
Sandoval gave credit to the trooper who made the arrest, but said in such cases authorities do not release the names of the officers involved.
The seizure was likely a substantial blow to those responsible for distributing the cocaine.
“I would think at 119 kilograms that’s definitely an impact on any organization,” he added.
Sandoval said the cocaine was likely passing through the area on its way to a larger metropolitan area, but eventually the drugs would have been distributed to smaller communities such as the Quad-Cities.
The Quad-Cities has had large cocaine seizures in the past in the 60- to 70-kilograms range as well as large marijuana arrests, but few reach $11.9 million in value. Sandoval hadn’t reviewed past statistics, but thought there was at least one larger seizure several years ago.
“We haven’t hit any seizures this big in a long time,” he said.
The Interstate 80 corridor is a coast-to-coast highway for drugs, said Scott County Sheriff Dennis Conard.
“It runs from California to the east coast,” he said, adding that intersecting I-80 are highways such as Interstate 35 to Minneapolis and Kansas City. And then I-80 runs to Chicago and other major drug markets along the east coast.
Numerous drug busts have been made on I-80 in the Quad-City region. The busts include more than cocaine.
Probably the largest marijuana bust for the region occurred on I-80 in Henry County in January 2003 when Illinois State Police seized almost 1 1/2 tons of marijuana valued at about $9 million.
(Reporter Thomas Geyer contributed to this story.)
Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com.