THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300453
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: YORKTOWN LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
What was to have been a routine traffic stop by a state police trooper turned serious Wednesday with the discovery of 5.5 pounds of TNT in the trunk of a car.
Neither the driver of the car, Eva Moreno, nor a passenger, Gilardo Martinez, both of the 2000 block of George Washington Memorial Highway - U.S. Route 17 - in Yorktown, would explain why the explosive was in the car, police said.
They were arrested and were being held in the Yorktown jail.
The pair were stopped about 5 p.m. in the woman's black Chevrolet Camaro on U.S. Route 17.
Neither Moreno nor Martinez would provide identification when asked, police said. Trooper Steve Tate gave Moreno, whose age was not available, tickets for an equipment violation and for not wearing a seat belt.
He was about to release the car when ``he spotted a Pepsi can crushed in the style that is known as a crack pipe,'' said Tammy Van Dame, a state police spokeswoman.
Tate asked whether he could search the car and was given permission. He called in a K9 team from the York County Sheriff's Department.
The team did not find drugs, but did find a plastic bag in the trunk containing a ``brownish substance.'' Tests showed it was consistent with TNT.
Van Dame said charges are pending against the pair for possession of the TNT, which was disposed of secretly.
KEYWORDS: EXPLOSIVES by CNB