— The Wake County Sheriff’s Office stopped a speeding car on Interstate 40 in Cary shortly after midnight Friday and discovered 51 pounds of methamphetamine in 16 packages. The driver and two passengers were arrested.

The sheriff’s office estimated the street value of the drug seizure at nearly $7 million.

Moise Orduno, 34, of Houston, Amall Judeth Murillo, 21, of Gwinnett, Ga., and Sandra Danissa Hernandez Crisostomo, 22, of Norcross, Ga., were arrested and booked in the Wake County jail. The were each charged with two counts of trafficking in methamphetamine and one count of conspiracy.

The sheriff’s office said a deputy stopped a 2008 black Honda Accord with a Georgia license plate that was speeding on eastbound I-40 near the Harrison Avenue exit. The driver had no license.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said his deputies detected the nervousness of the people in the car and decided to investigate. A canine unit was called to the scene, and a police dog alerted deputies to the presence of drugs. A search turned up the methamphetamine.

"You think it is not going to happen here, and here it is in our back door," Harrison said.

He suspects the trio of being small cogs in a larger drug organization.

"Most of the time, they don't talk," he said. "More than likely, they are runners. They would have picked it up at a location, picked up the money, or the money may have already been paid."

"The cost on this stuff is hardly anything to make it, so look at the profit they are turning over," Harrison said.

According to arrest reports, Murillo and Crisostomo both work at the same restaurant and bar in Georgia. Their relationship to Orundo was unclear.

Sheriff Harrison credits great police work as the reason this traffic stop turned into something more. "Compliment the deputies," he said.



