Man Accused of Transporting Marijuana From California

A man was arrested at the Hale County Airport Thursday and was accused of transporting around 140 pounds of marijuana from California.

It happened around 2:20 p.m., when a Homeland Security special agent was inspecting pilot certificates and spoke with 32-year-old Maksim Mironov. According to a criminal affidavit, Mironov was "acting visibly nervous" and had large duffel bags aboard the small aircraft.

When asked about what was in the bags, Mironov said it was his equipment. A K-9 officer was brought to detect the presence of drugs. The K-9 indicated narcotics were in the cargo area of the plane.

Agents found 5 bags with 125 individual bags of marijuana. The bags contained more than 143 pounds of marijuana.

Mironov admitted to knowing the drugs were on board, and admitted transporting the marijuana from California to Birmingham, Alabama. Mironov told agents he landed in Hale County to refuel.

Mironov is currently being held in the Lubbock County Detention Center.