Meth coated in mustard, wrapped in plastic found in speaker during Kansas traffic stop

Kansas sheriff’s deputies found methamphetamine that was coated in mustard, wrapped in plastic and hidden in a speaker during a highway traffic stop earlier this month, law enforcement officials said.

The Kingman County Sheriff’s Office deputies searched the car after seeing marijuana crumbs on the back seat and found the meth hidden inside two commercial-grade speakers, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent. The driver of the car, Sergio Martinez-Carlos, was charged Friday in federal court with one count of distribution of a controlled substance.

Federal prosecutors allege that Martinez-Carlos was distributing about 14.5 kilograms, or about 32 pounds, of meth. The DEA agent detailed the facts of the investigation in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Wichita.

The case began Dec. 8 when Deputy Jason White spotted a black 2014 Nissan Altima at the gas station at 339 E. D Ave. in Kingman. The car pulled out onto U.S. 400 after failing to yield, and White conducted a traffic stop.

Sheriff’s deputies smelled marijuana and saw loose marijuana crumbs on the back seat of the car, the DEA agent wrote. They then searched the car.

A commercial-grade speaker in the back seat held 12 bundles of suspected meth. The substance was wrapped in plastic, coated in what investigators believed to be mustard and placed in Ziploc-style bags. A second speaker was found in the trunk of the car, which had another 16 bundles of suspected meth that were packaged in the same way.

The substance in one of the packages field-tested positive for meth. The driver and a passenger were arrested and taken to the Kingman County Jail, though only the driver has been criminally charged in the case.

The driver admitted to investigators that he knew there were drugs in the car and told them he was taking the meth to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This story was originally published December 29, 2019 at 12:30 PM.