VALDOSTA — Nearly 100 pounds of cocaine, valued at $1.2 million, was confiscated Sunday evening during an Interstate 75 traffic stop, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.

Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said a deputy pulled over a northbound travel bus on I-75 for erratic driving. The bus was heading to New York. A K9 unit was called to the scene. It alerted on two bags under the bus.

The owners of the bags were identified by the baggage claim checks. Miguel Lebron-Santana, 19, and Aneudy Ortega, 28, were arrested and both are charged with cocaine trafficking, Paulk said.

He said the two suspects are from South America and will face federal charges, as trafficking drugs across state lines is a federal crime. The sheriff’s office is working with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency on the case.

The 40 bricks each weighed 1 kilogram or 2.2 pounds. Each brick is valued at $25,000 wholesale, Paulk said. On the street, the 100 pounds could be worth more than $4 million, he said.

The drugs will be held in evidence to be used during the suspects’ court trial, Paulk said. The drugs will then be destroyed. The suspects could face 20 years in a federal prison.

Paulk said it is a common thing for drug dealers to use travel buses to smuggle drugs across the country. Getting the drugs off the street is a big win, he said.

“Most all of your robberies, your shootings, your turf wars are tied to drugs,” Paulk said. “The city reported eight homicides this year and most of those were related to drugs.”