Man Smuggled Heroin In Car Batteries

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to at least four decades in prison for transporting millions of dollars in heroin across state lines in retrofitted car batteries.

Authorities say 46-year-old David Pacheco was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 80 years in prison for trafficking 27 kilograms of heroin.

Investigators say he made nine trips to Atlanta to pick up heroin and then would offload it in New York before driving back down south with the cash. Authorities said the heroin that Pacheco trafficked had a street value of more than $8.9 million.

A voicemail left Wednesday for his attorney was not immediately returned. One of his lawyers has said previously he made the smuggling runs because a powerful drug cartel in Mexico threatened members of his family.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.