A routine mid-April traffic stop in Jacksonville has landed a 34-year-old Indian national in the Duval County jail and triggered a federal look at what authorities describe as a major cannabis trafficking operation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) estimates the drugs tied to the case carry a street value of about $13 million. Local troopers arrested the driver, Dipakkumar Ghelani, on April 16, and he remains in custody on trafficking charges.
According to Action News Jax, Florida Highway Patrol troopers stopped Ghelani on April 16, took him into custody and booked him into Duval County. The outlet reports that ICE says his U.S. visa expired in May 2019, and that he has entered a not guilty plea on the trafficking charge. He is scheduled for a Jacksonville court appearance on May 7.
“Ghelani’s arrest shows how valuable our 287(g) partnerships are,” ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said in a news release quoted by Action News Jax. The ICE statement adds that the agency plans to pursue immigration proceedings alongside the criminal case and lists prior offenses the agency says are on Ghelani’s record. Federal officials put the estimated street value of the suspected cannabis shipment at roughly $13 million.
What the Trafficking Charge Means
Under Florida law, trafficking in cannabis is based on weight and plant count. Possession of more than 25 pounds of cannabis, or 300 or more cannabis plants, is charged as trafficking, a first-degree felony. The statute sets out mandatory minimum prison terms and fines that increase with quantity, starting at a three-year minimum sentence for the lowest trafficking tier and climbing from there, according to the Florida Statutes. Prosecutors will determine whether to pursue state trafficking counts, federal narcotics charges, or both as the investigation moves forward.
Local Enforcement and the Immigration Angle
ICE has pointed to its 287(g) partnerships, which deputize certain local officers to help identify immigration cases, in explaining how this arrest unfolded; the program’s structure is described on the agency’s website. As Hoodline previously reported, Jacksonville has recently seen several coordinated efforts involving local and federal authorities that used traffic stops and similar tools to open broader investigations. That blend of criminal and immigration work typically leaves defendants with two separate legal tracks: a criminal case in state or federal court and parallel immigration proceedings handled by ICE.
For now, Ghelani remains in the Duval County jail as his case approaches the May 7 court date. Officials with the Florida Highway Patrol and ICE have not released additional information beyond the agency statement, and local prosecutors have not yet filed an expanded charging document that lays out the detailed evidence behind the trafficking count.
