Shiloh took a sniff: He knew first.
The police dog alerted officers to the smell in the car during a traffic stop, and they found about 90 pounds of marijuana.
Gainesville Police arrested a Fort Lauderdale man Tuesday night after a highway traffic stop revealed he had an estimated $356,000 worth of marijuana in his car.
Officers arrested 51-year-old Michael John Cefola on charges of marijuana trafficking, according to an arrest report.
At about 7:45 p.m., an officer working with the Gainesville-Alachua County Drug Task Force was patrolling Interstate 75 and noticed a car driven by Cefola weaving in traffic.
After pulling the car over, the officer asked Cefola if he could search his vehicle, but Cefola didn’t consent, according to the report.
Shiloh, a Labrador retriever certified to detect drug smells, alerted the officer to the odor.
Citing probable cause, the officer searched the vehicle and found a bag with 89.5 pounds of high-grade marijuana, according to the report
During questioning, Cefola said he was driving the weed from California to South Florida for $15,000.
Officers booked Cefola into the Alachua County Jail at about 10 p.m. He was released at noon Wednesday after meeting a $40,000 bond.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 4/10/2014 under the headline "Florida man arrested with 89.5 pounds of weed in car"]
