-from eastvalleytribune.com-

By Katie McDevitt

A suspicious car in Chandler led detectives to a secret stash of more than 4 pounds of cocaine and resulted in the arrest of three suspected drug dealers.

On Friday, police arrested Rameek Ka Shawn Brown, 27, Keith Quinton Etheridge, 24, and Russell George Martínez, 36, on suspicion of possession of narcotic drugs for sale.

“The guys were taking (cocaine) to New York, we think,” said Chandler detective Jesus Deanda in a phone interview Tuesday.

Deanda said drug dealers will sometimes come to Arizona to purchase cocaine because it’s cheaper here than in other parts of the country.

“We’re two hours away from the border, so between the border and here, there’s a price,” Deanda said.

The seized drug are worth about $15,000 in bulk in Arizona, but broken down into smaller amounts and sold on the street in New York it could have fetched about $200,000, Deanda said.

Deanda and officer Antonio Frias made the drug bust while driving in a marked patrol car about 9:30 p.m., looking for anything out of the ordinary while cruising in the area of Hamilton Place and Erie Street.

Deanda said he looked in the rearview mirror and saw an Infiniti drive away quickly. He followed the vehicle and noticed it appeared to have no visible license plate.

When he stopped the car, Deanda saw old boxes and packaging items, which he recognized as items sometimes used to transport drugs.

The detective asked to search the vehicle and discovered two “bricks” of 2.2 pounds each of cocaine wrapped in black silk socks and a plastic bag.

The drugs were hidden in the car’s back seat and middle console.