ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - D.E.A. agents say it was huge, the largest single meth bust in Albuquerque in years. They say the drugs were hidden in potato chip bags and laundry detergent boxes.
Agents arrested 44-year-old Charles Padilla, who worked at the Sunport in maintenance for 13 years before being terminated in February.
They say last Friday, acting on a tip, agents searched a house on Del Monte Trail in Southwest Albuquerque. Inside a hidden compartment in one of the bedrooms was 18 pounds of meth with a street value of $3.5 million.
"It's one of the largest single seizures of methamphetamine in recent years for the Albuquerque area, I'd say even New Mexico" said D.E.A. Agent Eduardo Chavez.
Agents say another tip led them to another home on Spotted Pony in Southwest Albuquerque. There they found Padilla and they also found another pound of meth and 19 guns in a safe. Another gun and a bulletproof vest was found in his car.
Padilla's home is in a neighborhood with kids and puppies and agents say, one of the city's biggest suspected drug dealers.
"A lot of people who are trafficking in this amount of drugs or weapons or both – they're hiding in plain sight," Chavez said.
Agents believe Padilla may have been working with cartels in Mexico.
He made his first appearance in court Monday and is due back in court Tuesday.
Padilla could face a minimum of 10 years in prison if convicted.
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