Gazebo Gazette
Monday afternoon, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office seized 140, one-pound packages of Methamphetamine with street value in excess of a million dollars on a routine traffic stop on Interstate 10 near the the Exit 20 (Delisle/Pass Christian) mile marker going eastbound. The suspect arrested was San Antonio resident; Esteban Bernardina Betancourt on felony charges of drug trafficking.
After speaking to Betancourt on the traffic stop, Harrison County Deputies observed the truck to be filled with dirt and gravel concealing buckets. During the course of the investigation and the search, officers discovered PVC piping and several buckets containing numerous one pound packages of methamphetamine.
Betancourt is being charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine while placed into federal custody of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The suspect is held at the Harrison County Adult Detention Center until an initial appearance before the federal magistrate of the United State Circuit Court in Gulfport, Mississippi.