Scott McAllister

TUNNEL HILL, Ga. — An Interstate 75 traffic stop by a police officer here on Thursday turned into a felony drug bust netting more than 200 pounds of marijuana.

Tunnel Hill police Sgt. Scott Reneau said he pulled over a man and woman traveling north on I-75 near exit 341 about 2:30 p.m., and when he approached the car he smelled marijuana.

A search of the 2008 Honda Accord turned up 207 pounds of pot. Big blocks wrapped in green cellophane filled the trunk of the car.

“I wasn’t surprised because I’m used to doing this. On the interstate you’re going to get large drug loads,” Sgt. Reneau said. “I was surprised they got so much marijuana in such a small space.”

Police Chief Roy Brunson put a resale value on the contraband of more than $300,000.

Arrested on a charge of trafficking marijuana were Yiber Pilici, 22, and the woman, Teuta Lika, 18, both of Bowling Green, Ky.

The Whitfield County Drug Enforcement Unit is assisting on the case. Unit Sgt. Scott McAllister said I-75 is a hotbed for drug trafficking, and busts yield marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine.

He said a “vast amount of drugs travel up and down our interstate every day,” and, “It’s very dangerous work.” More dangerous than the drug traffic is the freeway traffic.

Sgt. Reneau was injured during an I-75 traffic stop in September when a tractor-trailer veered off the road and struck his police car, knocking him and another person over a guardrail.