$4 Million Traffic Stop: Tenn. Troopers Bust Smugglers Using Water Bottles

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee Highway Patrol officers say they have seized more than $4 million in cash in duct-taped bundles hidden in cases of bottled water in a tractor-trailer, prompting the arrests of two California men.

A highway patrol statement said the tractor-trailer was stopped Saturday on Interstate 40 in Tennessee's Cumberland County. Police say officers using search dogs found duct-taped bundles of cash inside the bottled water cases in the trailer.

Federal authorities say they charged 42-year-old Armando Guzman of Monreno Valley, Calif., and co-driver 44-year-old Francisco Javier Cruz of San Jacinto, Calif., with interstate travel with intent to promote a drug trafficking conspiracy.

Commissioner Bill Gibbons of Tennessee's Department of Safety and Homeland Security said in a statement that I-40 is one of the nation's leading corridors for drug trafficking.