Three Maine Men Arrested After Police Find More Than Four Pounds of Cocaine in Drug Bust

It's a tireless job and one that has gotten much harder to do over the last decade here in Maine. Of course we're talking about the work of our police department's and Maine Drug Enforcement Agency when it comes to keeping this garbage out of our state.

Drug arrests, not just in Maine, but around the country, have skyrocketed in the last 10 years or so as the epidemic of illegal drug use has overwhelmed law enforcement agencies across the United States.

According to WGME 13, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency took several Maine men into custody on an array of drug and firearm charges on Tuesday. The news station reports that the Maine DEA and local law enforcement has been involved in a months-long investigation into drug trafficking in Penobscot County.

Police say that they were able to identify Chase Kane, 28 of Bangor, as the leader of the trafficking outfit. On Tuesday morning, police executed a traffic stop on Kane's vehicle on I-95 in Newport. During the traffic stop, they also identified Benjamin Hughes, 27 of Brewer, as a suspect who was in the car with Kane.

A search of the vehicle turned up a whopping four pounds of cocaine. So much so that the Maine DEA says it has a street value north of $200,000. Police arrested Kane and Hughes and booked them into the Penobscot County Jail for Aggravated Trafficking in Schedule W drugs.

Following those arrests, police then searched a home on Griffin Road in Bangor. Police say they found more drugs, cash from drug sales and firearms. At the house, police also arrested Haydon Taylor, 30.. He was allegedly in possession of a backpack containing more cocaine, $3,000 in suspected drug money and a loaded handgun.