Car Skips Repairs, Leads Police to Cocaine

Pure Colombian cocaine weighing 120 kilograms, with an estimated street value of $1.68 million, was seized Wednesday from a car brought into a Clairemont service station for repairs, police said.

Detectives from the San Diego Police Department were called to the station at Clairemont Drive and Interstate 5 at 2:25 p.m., Sgt. Dave Douglas said.

The station manager reported “suspicious activity” after the owner of a white Audi “became very nervous and refused to open the trunk,” Douglas said, after a mechanic told him that he needed to do so to repair the car’s electronic fuel-injection system.

The man asked that the service-station manager immediately call for a tow truck and have the car towed to Los Angeles. At that point, Douglas said, the station manager phoned police.

After officers arrived and talked with the owner of the car, Nero “the dope dog” was called to the scene, Douglas said. Nero sniffed out the cocaine in the trunk and back seat. Officers obtained a warrant and searched the car, uncovering the drugs, which Douglas said are valued at $14,000 a kilo.

Samuel Sandoval Felix, 51, a citizen of Mexico, was being held Wednesday night on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale and transporting a controlled substance for sale, Douglas said. He said three other people were being sought for questioning.