Interstate 10 traffic stop led authorities to 22 pounds of cocaine, MS Coast sheriff says

Authorities arrested a North Carolina woman on Monday after police said a search of her car on Interstate 10 turned up 10 bundles of cocaine.

The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol arrested the woman during a traffic stop in Gulfport, the Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Wednesday.

Sherika Yuva Leake, 37, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, faces a federal charge of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute cocaine.

She was arrested at 5 p.m. Monday while driving near mile marker 37 in Gulfport, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Police said Leake “was suspected of criminal wrongdoing.”

A canine sniffed her vehicle. Authorities said agents searched the car with probable cause and found a large trash bag in the trunk with 10 kilogram sized bundles that roughly totaled 22 pounds of cocaine.

Police said Leake traveled from North Carolina to Texas, where she allegedly obtained the drug.

She was booked into the Harrison County Jail and is held without bond pending federal court proceedings.