ROBERTSDALE, Alabama --- A routine traffic stop on Interstate 65 north of Bay Minette led Deputies to what Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack characterized as a large drug bust early Tuesday morning.

In a press conference held Tuesday afternoon at the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office in Robertsdale, Mack said deputies were conducting a routine traffic observation Tuesday morning on I-65 when they observed a vehicle make an unsafe lane change in the northbound lane.

When deputies ran the plates on the vehicle they discovered that the plates on the vehicle had been switched.

“The plates came back as belonging to a (Toyota) Camry, but the vehicle itself turned out to be a 2012 Volkswagon Passat,” he said. “While the color and year were the same, the model of the vehicle turned out to be different.”

When pulled over the driver of the vehicle consented to a search and in the trunk of the vehicle deputies found a pair of duffle bags containing approximately 100 pounds of marijuana, bagged and packaged for sale with an estimated street value of $100,000.

At around 4:45 a.m., deputies arrested Jeffrey Lee Hamilton, 58, of St. Lore City, Ohio. Hamilton was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections facility on felony charges of drug trafficking where he is awaiting bond.

“Typical bond in this case is around $1 million, but that will be up to a judge to decide,” Mack said.

Mack said that upon investigation, it was determined that the car was picked up in the Mobile area and was headed north to Ohio or somewhere in between.

“It is our belief that the drugs were already in the car when it was picked up,” Mack said. “This is just one example of how South Alabama is being used to traffic drugs using I-65 as a major avenue to the north and I-10 as an avenue to the east and west.”

Mack said it is yet to be known the source of the marijuana.

“As in any trafficking investigation it is our goal to track the drugs to the source,” he said. “This investigation is considered to be ongoing and we will continue to pursue it as far as it will go.”

Mack said the bust would be classified as large, not only for the volume of the drugs found, but also for the quality and the fact that they were packaged ready for sale.

“This is someone that knew what they were doing,” he said, adding that the Sheriff’s Department sees about four or five of this sized drug busts per year. “We know we are not getting them all, but if we are not out there we’re not going to get any.”

Mack said he considered getting that volume of drugs off the streets a victory for the department.

“You might see it as just a few bags of marijuana,” Mack said, “but we look at it and see what we are taking off the street. It is widely known that marijuana is the jumping point to other drugs and other crime. Any volume of drugs we can get off the street is considered a victory for our department and it could have just as easily been 1,000 pounds or a tractor truck load full. That is why we will always remain vigilant in getting drugs off the streets.”