About $1M worth of suspected cocaine seized in turnpike traffic stop in Mt. Pleasant Township

A man who police said took a cross-country flight was found Thursday with 26 pounds of suspected cocaine during a traffic stop on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Westmoreland County, according to court papers.

The cocaine would have an street value of about $1 million, according to Trooper Steve Limani.

Troopers said a duffel bag in a Jeep Cherokee being driven west by Victor A. Magana, 29, of Washington state had an airline luggage tag that indicated he flew from Seattle to Philadelphia.

Magana was being held without bail in the Westmoreland County Prison on drug charges.

Troopers said they pulled the SUV over about 11 a.m. in Mt. Pleasant Township for a window tint violation. Police grew suspicious and summoned a state police dog after the driver refused to let troopers search the vehicle, according to court papers.

The dog indicated that drugs were present, and police said they got a search warrant. In addition to the suspected cocaine, two vacuum-sealed packages of what looked like a medication that is used to treat anxiety and panic disorder were seized, according to court papers.

Magana did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A Sept. 21 preliminary hearing is set.

The region has been the site of a few large cocaine busts in the past few years, including seven pounds of the drug troopers said they found in a vehicle pulled over on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Hempfield almost two years ago.

Federal officials have called a cross-country drug ring that moved as much as 300 pounds of cocaine from Los Angeles to Penn Hills as one of the largest ever in Western Pennsylvania. In 2018, 39 people were indicted in that scheme.