A crudely designed phony driver’s license has a “John Doe” in jail and has lead to the seizure of approximately 550 pounds of marijuana, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson announced August 3.



The suspect, a man estimated to be in his 40s who provided authorities with three fake identifications, was arrested over the weekend by officers with Bronson’s Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement at the unit’s Interstate 10 Interdiction Station near Live Oak.



After bypassing the station heading east on I-10 shortly before midnight Friday, officers tracked down the suspect’s truck and asked for identification. He presented a bogus driver’s license, reportedly purchased in Miami for $75, which bore the imprint “Driver License.” Suspicious officers examined the truck with a high-tech gamma ray imaging device and discovered a hidden compartment which contained bales of marijuana totaling 549 pounds of the drug. The marijuana has an estimated street value of $600,000.



The suspect is charged with bypassing an interdiction station, unlawful possession of a fictitious driver’s license, obstruction of justice by concealing his identity, and trafficking in marijuana. U.S. drug Enforcement officials, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Suwannee County Sheriff’s department assisted in the investigation. While the suspect remains in the Suwannee County Jail without bond, authorities are continuing to try to determine the man’s identity.



The arrest and seizure cap a busy 12 months at the department’s I-10 Interdiction Station. Since last August, Bronson’s department has recovered nearly $8 million in narcotics, stolen goods or contraband at that location, including $4 million cocaine, more than $1 million in marijuana, $600,000 in stolen medicines, 60 large-screen stolen televisions, and a truckload of pilfered computer chassis.



The station is one of 22 such stations that the department operates in North Florida. designed historically to keep plant and animal pest and diseases out of Florida by checking the 12 million commercial vehicles that enter or leave the state each year, the stations are playing an increasingly important role in Florida’s homeland security efforts as they have detained several truckloads of illegal aliens and confiscated millions of dollars in contraband in the last two years.