Jose Luis Magana of Edinburg, Texas, was taken into custody and is being held in the Jefferson County Jail on a $1 million bond on charges of trafficking in cocaine. Hale said Magana, 44, is originally from Mexico but is in the United States legally.
The Sheriff's Highway Safety Unit, trained by the Department of Transportation, stopped the truck for a random safety inspection.
The deputy's training alerted him to the hidden compartment and the cocaine, Hale said. The bundles, which were numbered one through 53, were wrapped in layers of cellophane, aluminum foil and black plastic.
Earlier this month, sheriff's deputies seized 331 pounds of marijuana - with an estimated street value of $625,000 - found hidden in a load of tomatoes on a tractor trailer traveling eastbound in Interstate 20 near the Interstate 459 exchange.
"This is a real crossroads for drug smuggling," Hale said. "The drug cartels are using the interstates, we know that. Deputies across the country are fighting this same battle."
Hale said the truck driver is not cooperating with authorities, but he said information gleaned from the stop and the arrest will help other law enforcement agencies.
"We were successful at taking a large amount of cocaine off the street, but it's as important to share the intelligence with other agencies," Hale said. "If they're (officers) successful in California and elsewhere, it helps us here."
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