2 arrests in $500,000 Amarillo-area marijuana seizure

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) - Two North Carolina men have been arrested during a traffic stop in the Texas Panhandle after authorities say they found marijuana worth nearly $500,000 and hashish valued at more than $42,000 in their car.

Texas Department of Public Safety officials say 22-year-old Cody Allen Hill and 27-year-old Justin Bay Salmeron, both of Wilmington, North Carolina, have been booked into the Carson County Jail on charges of possession and delivery of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance and unlawfully carrying a weapon.

Besides the drugs, a state trooper who pulled them over Thursday on Interstate 40 for a traffic violation found a .25-caliber handgun. Investigators say the men were traveling from Bakersfield, California to Wilmington.

The marijuana was found in 21 vacuum-sealed bags. The hashish was in seven similar bags.

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