A Coon Rapids man faces felony drug charges after law enforcement seized over 25 pounds of cocaine and 109k during a drug bust.
According to court documents, members of the West Metro Drug Task Force were tipped off by an informant about a “load car” planning to bring a large amount of cocaine into Minnesota from a Mexican supplier.
The informant told law enforcement they were planning on meeting the driver, later identified as 38-year-old Luis Zamier Avila-Lopez, who said they would be receiving a “large among of cocaine.”
Prosecutors say on Jan. 26, Avila-Lopez’s left his house in Coon Rapids and drove to a Roseville parking lot to meet up with the informant to deliver the cocaine, the complaint states.
Law enforcement found his truck using a GPS tracking device and detained him in the parking lot. A K-9 with the team searched around the vehicle and alerted to drugs in the truck. Detectives began searching the vehicle and allegedly found a cardboard box containing several baggies of cocaine weighing approximately 11 pounds, the complaint states.
Following the seizure, detectives requested a search warrant for Avila-Lopez’s home on the 1200 block of Sycamore Street NW in Coon Rapids and executed it later that night.
Detectives found a cooler with nine large packages of cocaine weighing approximately 16.5 pounds in a bedroom and $109,800 in U.S. currency in a hallway closet, according to court documents.
Avila-Lopez allegedly told police the cocaine was sent to his home, and he was instructed to deliver the narcotics, the complaint states.
The 38-year-old was charged in Anoka County with first-degree aggravated controlled substance crime and first-degree controlled substance for the sale of cocaine, according to court documents. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Dec. 28.
If convicted, each charge carries a maximum sentence of 40 years behind bars or up to a $1 million fine.