By KRWG News
New Mexico – State Motor Transportation police have seized about $350,000 in suspected drug money in three separate stops.
The state Department of Public Safety says money from the three stops Thursday was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The department says a search of a pickup truck in Raton turned up seven bundles of cash worth about $100,000 hidden in a compartment between the engine and the cab.
Authorities say the driver denied the money belonged to him.
The DPS says an officer found bundles of cash worth nearly $168,000 in a recreational vehicle on U.S. 54 in Otero County.
Another officer who stopped a tractor-trailer rig on Interstate 10 near Lordsburg received permission from a driver to open a Christmas package and found between $80,000 and $100,000 inside.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.