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A routine traffic stop for speeding on Interstate 95 in Martin County, Florida, resulted in one of the largest illegal pill seizures in the county's history, the local Sheriff's Office reported on Facebook.
Agent Nicholas Thomas from the Aggressive Driving Unit stopped a vehicle near mile marker 107 on I-95 North last Monday after observing it traveling at speeds of up to 85 mph and making dangerous lane maneuvers.
The driver, identified as Zolton Otto Ganoczi, 36 years old, was found to have his driver's license suspended in both New York and Florida, which led to his initial arrest.
During the interaction, the agents noticed obvious signs of agitation: profuse sweating, rapid speech, stuttering, and dilated pupils.
The breath test returned a negative result for alcohol, but Ganoczi himself admitted to having consumed methamphetamine that same day and to having ingested gummy mushrooms containing psilocybin.
While conducting an inventory of the vehicle before towing it, the agents found a transparent bag containing a substance believed to be methamphetamine in the driver's side door.
However, the most significant discovery came when examining the trunk: more than 31,000 illegal pills hidden inside unlabelled mail-type envelopes, stored in a black container with a yellow lid.
The pills were packaged in plastic bags, tied with rubber bands, and accompanied by handwritten notes indicating distribution to multiple recipients.
The substances included Ambien (zolpidem), Rivotril (clonazepam), Lunesta, diazepam, and alprazolam (Xanax), all controlled benzodiazepines whose illegal distribution poses a growing public health issue in the United States.
Ganoczi initially claimed to be from New York and told the agents that he was "just doing his job" making deliveries.
He later admitted to having picked up the container in Miami bound for Daytona Beach, where he was supposed to leave it in a parking lot, and confessed that he received approximately 70 dollars by bank transfer for each delivery.
He also acknowledged having completed between two and three previous deliveries and was on track to make more at the time of his arrest.
The authorities confiscated the vehicle—a black Jeep Grand Cherokee—and all the drugs found inside.
Ganoczi faces five charges of possession with intent to sell controlled substances, as well as possession of a controlled substance, driving under the influence of substances, speeding, and driving with a suspended license.
After confirming that he is an undocumented immigrant from Hungary, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a detention order against him.
Ganoczi is incarcerated in the Martin County jail following a seizure that authorities described as one of the largest of benzodiazepines in the county's history.
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