Authorities find more than 20 pounds of drugs including meth hidden in a vehicle traveling through Colorado

AVON, Colo. (KKTV) - A Colorado man is facing serious charges after a discovery by authorities in Eagle County on July 13.

The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office is reporting an officer pulled 40-year-old Domingo Mendoza-Ceja of Denver over for weaving along I-70 near Avon.

“Contact was made with the driver and indicators of further criminal activity were observed and a K-9 was deployed around the vehicle,” part of a news release from the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office reads. “His handler quickly observed an alert to the rear of the vehicle where methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl were discovered inside the gas tank under the rear seat”

Inside the gas tank authorities found about 16.7 pounds of suspected meth, 5.5 pounds of heroin and 1.2 pounds of fentanyl.

Mendoza-Ceja is facing more than half a dozen felony drug charges including possession and distribution.

The law enforcement team that contacted the vehicle is assigned to the Gore Range Narcotics Interdiction Team (GRANITE), which was on traffic patrol near the town of Avon. The Gore Range Narcotic Interdiction Team is a multi-jurisdictional drug task force composed of local law enforcement partners and detectives from the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office and the Vail Police Department.

Click here for more on the recent bust.