Police have seized millions of dollars in cash hidden inside barrels containing raw pork shoulders, after a tractor-trailer thought to be heading for the Mexican border was stopped.
The tractor-trailer was being driven down Interstate 85 when it was stopped by officers in Cleveland County, North Carolina, for traffic violations on Saturday.
Around $3 million in cash was located in barrels aboard the tractor-trailer, the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office announced in a news release on Tuesday.
The sheriff's office shared a picture of the money that had been seized piled in stacks onto a table, as well as a second photo that appeared to have been taken shortly after the cash was discovered.
That image appeared to show that the cash had been wrapped in cellophane before being hidden in barrels filled with raw meat.
The sheriff's office believes the cash was obtained through selling drugs in the region and that it there was a reason to believe the driver, who has not been named, was traveling to the U.S./Mexico border.
A deputy with the Community Interdiction team had stopped the tractor-trailer for "failure to maintain lane and impeding the flow of traffic," the sheriff's office said.
After being tipped off by a K-9 alert, the deputy decided the tractor-trailer needed to be searched, according to the sheriff's office. The tractor-trailer was then moved to a safe location so the search could be carried out.
"During the search, approximately $3 million in cash was located in barrels containing raw pork shoulders," the sheriff's office said. "The Sheriff's Office has reason to believe that the money was headed to the US/Mexican border and also believes the money was a result of drug sales throughout the region."
The Department of Justice has been called in to help with the investigation, the sheriff's office said. The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Justice have been contacted for comment.
It comes after President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will hold off on designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Trump said he was statutorily ready to issue a declaration, but had decided to delay at the request of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
"All necessary work has been completed to declare Mexican Cartels terrorist organizations. Statutorily we are ready to do so," Trump wrote on Twitter. "However, at the request of a man who I like and respect, and has worked so well with us, President Andres Manuel@LopezObrador_ we we will temporarily hold off on this designation."
Trump said in a radio interview last month that he would move ahead with designating the drug cartels as terrorist organizations after attributing American deaths to drug trafficking and other activity by Mexican cartels.
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