Pot discovered during traffic stop on SR 347

Bundles of marijuana weighing 212 pounds with a street value of $159,000 were confiscated after a Pinal County Sheriff’s deputy made a traffic stop Sunday morning on State Route 347.

One man ran from the scene, but the driver remained in the vehicle and later was identified as Alejandro Ruiz, 22 of Phoenix. He told the deputy he had “some marijuana” in the Jeep after the deputy asked him if there was anything illegal in the vehicle, according to a PCSO press release.

The incident started when a deputy tried to stop a 2000 Jeep traveling eastbound on State Route 84 about 7:20 a.m. after radar clocked the vehicle going 90 mph in a 55 mph zone after turning northbound onto SR 347.

The driver slowed the vehicle rapidly and then continued for a short distance at a slow speed; the Jeep then accelerated quickly and then came to an abrupt stop. The front passenger door opened and a Hispanic male dressed in camouflage ran northbound into the desert.

“Ruiz told the deputy he was just trying to make some money,” Sheriff Paul Babeu said. “Members of the U.S. Border Patrol came to the traffic stop and attempted to locate the passenger who fled but were unsuccessful. The vehicle Ruiz was driving was seized and PCSO will work with the county attorney’s office to request that it be forfeited as it was used to smuggle illegal drugs.”

Ruiz was booked into the Pinal County Jail on suspicion of transporting marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and possession of marijuana.