More than 3,000 pounds of marijuana seized in Bootheel traffic stop

The Missouri State Highway Patrol helped bring more than 3,000 pounds of marijuana off the streets and a Texas drug trafficker behind bars this week, KZIM KSIM reported. A commercial vehicle inspector signaled a tractor-trailer to stop Sunday evening at a weigh station in Pemiscot County on Interstate 55. The driver, 47-year-old Renaldo Martinez of Dallas, stopped at the station but then tried to leave. He was pulled over and the box trailer was searched. A trooper found 3,600 pounds of marijuana inside. Martinez and his passenger, 23-year-old Xavier Avila, were arrested for felony possession with the intent to distribute and possession of more than 35 grams of marijuana.