WOONSOCKET Police find drugs in Secret Vehicle Compartment

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Providence Journal
Woonsocket man charged after police find drugs in secret vehicle compartment

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A middle-aged Woonsocket man suspected of trafficking drugs from the South into southern New England was arrested Monday after police said they found drugs worth more than $300,000 inside a secret compartment in his SUV.

Miguel Colon, 54, came under investigation in April, when Providence detectives Matt Jennette and Charles "Chip" Vieira got a tip that Colon travels to Texas and Florida to pick up large amounts of heroin and cocaine, and distribute the drugs in the Greater Providence area and southeastern Massachusetts, said Maj. David Lapatin. Woonsocket narcotics detectives also got the same information about Colon and his alleged drug trafficking, according to a police report.

The Providence police started watching Colon and monitored him during the week of April 20 as he drove off in a maroon Nissan Murano down to Florida and across the panhandle into Texas, ending up just south of Houston, the report said. Colon moved around, leaving Texas for Florida, and back again, before finally heading north toward Rhode Island.

On Sunday, as Colon was heading back to New England, the Providence police got a search warrant for his SUV. Early Monday morning, as Colon was heading into Rhode Island, Providence and Woonsocket narcotics detectives were watching for him.

But, instead of going home to 61 Elm St. in Woonsocket, Colon and a passenger continued north into Massachusetts. The police followed Colon's Nissan to the Knights Inn motel in North Attleboro, where they arrested Colon.

Police in North Attleboro and Massachusetts State Police were notified and got a search warrant. Bane, the Rhode Island State Police narcotics K-9, sniffed the vehicle and indicated there were drugs inside.

Providence Detective Nicholas Ludovici, who is experienced in finding mechanical "hides" in vehicles, said Thursday that he found a magnet on the dashboard that corresponded to the hidden compartment. He spent an hour trying different sequences -- flicking the electronic mirrors, the windows -- until he found the combination that, like an electronic lock, opened the "hide" in the rear cargo area.

Three kilos of cocaine, with a street value of $300,000, and a pound of marijuana valued at $3,500 on the street, were inside the compartment, Ludovici said. A loaded .380 caliber handgun with a loaded magazine, digital scales, and drug packaging material were also inside, Lapatin said.

The Woonsocket narcotics detectives got a search warrant for Colon's apartment and two storage lockers, and seized 31.6 ounces of heroin, more scales and drug-packaging material, eight rounds of ammunition, and a Toyota Camry with Massachusetts plates, according to a police report.

North Attleboro police charged Colon with cocaine trafficking, carrying an illegal firearm, and possession with intent to deliver drugs. He is being held without bail in Massachusetts on those charges, pending a "dangerousness" hearing on May 5, said Bristol County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Greg Miliote.