ADEL — Authorities in Cook County made a “very large” drug bust on Interstate 75 last week, according to a sheriff’s department investigator.

At 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, July 25, a Cook County Sheriff’s Office deputy stopped a car at the 40 mile marker southbound for speeding, according to a sheriff’s office statement. The car was reportedly doing 90 miles per hour in a 70-mph zone.

While writing a speeding ticket, the deputy smelled a strong marijuana odor in the car, the statement said.

After a second deputy arrived, a search of the car started, and the driver disclosed the existence of 13 pounds of marijuana in a suitcase in the vehicle’s trunk, the sheriff’s office said. Analysis later showed the actual weight of the marijuana to be 21 pounds 12 ounces, according to the statement.

A deputy opened the suitcase and found 18 plastic bags full of marijuana, the statement said.

The search also turned up almost $72,000 in cash, mostly in a gray backpack in the trunk, along with an as-yet undetermined amount of “marijuana wax,” a concentrated form of marijuana, said Sgt. Brent Exum, sheriff’s office investigator.

The driver was heading from Atlanta to his home in Orlando, Exum said.

Khalil Schleicher, 33, of Orlando, Fla., is charged with speeding and trafficking in marijuana, according to the sheriff’s office.

The rental car he was driving was towed to the Cook County Law Enforcement Center.

“It just goes to show that Interstate 75 continues to be a major artery for criminal activity which passes through our small community,” Cook County Sheriff Douglas Hanks said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.