-from rdu.news14.com-

RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C. – The drug task force in Randolph County has been very busy lately.

From marijuana to cocaine and even steroids– the Randolph County sheriff’s office has already made several drug busts this year. The latest discovery– around 500 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop.

“It seems like every week we’re doing a raid somewhere. We’re putting people in jail left and right for drug violations and we’re going to continue,” said Sheriff Maynard Reid.

The Randolph County sheriff’s office took around 500 pounds of marijuana off the streets on Thursday.

It all began when Deputy Kevin Walton pulled over a van and immediately knew something was up.

“[He] gave several indications to criminal activity. He was extremely nervous every time I asked him a question. I’d ask him the same question he’d give me a different answer,” said Walton.

The man was first pulled over off at the 311 bypass in Randolph County. The deputy asked the man to get out of the car and he did for just a second — but then he got back in and took off leading police on a high-speed chase into Guilford County.

“Once into Guilford County, I made my move and cut in front of and actually started braking and we had another car come up on the right hand side of us and we had him boxed in and he had no where to go,” said Capt. Tim Hasty.

With nowhere to go, the man stopped his car and surrendered to police. Then Deputy Walton took a look in the back of the van — that’s where he says he found the marijuana in a wooden crate.

It has a street value of around half a million dollars.

“I mean that’s a lot of marijuana on a traffic stop. He tried to act surprised but he wasn’t as surprised as I was,” said Walton.

Even more surprising is that it is the biggest seizure of marijuana during a traffic stop in Randolph County — just one of the many recent accomplishments by law enforcement in Randolph County and Asheboro.

The Randolph County sheriff’s office arrested the driver of the van — Raul Quiroz– in connection with the bust. He faces several drug related charges.

Officials say the investigation is ongoing and they expect to arrest more people.