FORISTELL • A rear car door that wouldn't stay open turned out to be the giveaway that led to the arrest of a suspected drug trafficker carting 34 pounds of methamphetamine on Interstate 70, federal prosecutors say.

Jonathan Bobadilla-Soto, 26, of Adelanto, Calif., consented to a search of his Chevrolet Traverse after he was pulled over by police on Wednesday for failing to signal while changing lanes and failing to stop at a red light, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

When officers were searching the SUV, the rear door wouldn't stay up and "came crashing down" on an officer, the press release states. That's when officers discovered a gap in the plastic molding of the hatch and found the crystal methamphetamine, known as ice.

"After dismantling the rear SUV hatch, officers discovered 17 individually wrapped bundles of ice, placed inside the vehicle’s natural void. A continued search revealed five individually wrapped bundles in the rear passenger side quarter panel, six individually wrapped bundles in the rear ceiling compartment and six individually wrapped bundles in the rear driver side quarter panel which all contained ice," the release said.