ROCKFORD — Dogs sniffed out $1 million worth of cocaine on Tuesday in two drug busts made in the city within an hour of each other, Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana said at a news conference today.

And three suspects — two from Rockford and one from Waukegan — are being held on bonds between $1 million and $3 million in connection with the case.

Sheriff's police worked with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration the past several months investigating a drug trafficking organization based in Rockford, which led to the arrests.

On Tuesday, Deputy Eric Pearson was on patrol with Chico, a police canine, when Pearson made a traffic stop of a Honda Civic being driven by a man at Bypass 20 and 11th Street. Caruana would not say why the deputy made the traffic stop.

During the stop, Chico sniffed the outside of the car and alerted Pearson that there was an odor of an illegal controlled substance. Deputies searched the car and found a large black duffle bag in the trunk. It was later found to contain 26 kilogram bundles of suspected cocaine. The total amount of cocaine is about 65 pounds.

The driver of the car, Emanuel R. Nieves, 29, of Rockford, was immediately arrested. He has been charged with possession and intent to deliver more than 900 grams of cocaine. He is held in Winnebago County Jail on $3 million bond.

After the traffic stop, sheriff's investigators arrived at a residence in the 3100 block of Sewell Street that was connected to the traffic stop. They saw occupants of a Chevy pickup truck back into the driveway and remove a safe from within the residence and place it into the truck, police said.

The vehicle left the residence and was stopped by investigators. Deputy Steve Martellaro directed his canine, Bullet, to sniff the outside of the truck. The dog gave a positive alert. Police obtained a search warrant and found about $10,000 inside along with 43 grams of cocaine.

The two occupants of the truck were identified as Joel Marquez Herrera, 47, of Rockford, and Salvador Galvez, 50, of Waukegan. Both were charged with possession and intent to deliver 15 to 100 grams of cocaine. Bond for Marquez Herrera was set at $2 million; Galvez' at $1 million.

Caruana said the drug bust is one of the bigger ones made in the area. And he said he expected the cocaine seized by police to put "quite a bit of a dent" in the local drug trade.

Georgette Braun: 815-987-1331; gbraun@rrstar.com; @GeorgetteBraun