Chowchilla traffic stop leads to discovery of pot grow, firearms, police say

Two suspects were arrested by Chowchilla police this week after officers say a traffic stop led to the discovery of narcotics and multiple firearms.

Chowchilla police arrested Gilberto Zambrano, 25, Tuesday night after officers performed a traffic stop for vehicle violations on Avenue 24 around 10:30 p.m., according to Lt. Jeff Palmer.

During the stop, officers discovered a pound of methamphetamine, a pound of heroin and a loaded handgun.

Chowchilla detectives secured a search warrant for Zambrano’s current residence as well as his previous residence near the City of Chowchilla, according to Palmer.

During the search authorities discovered a large illegal marijuana grow along with eight firearms, 10 illegal large capacity magazines, a large amount of cash and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Police said the Madera Special Investigations Unit, Madera County Sheriff’s deputies and Madera County Narcotics Enforcement Team assisted in the investigation.

As a result of the investigation Zambrano and a second suspect, Hector Samaniego-Villa, were booked into the Madera County Jail on a range of allegations, according to a news release on the department’s Facebook page.

Those suspected charges included felony possession of narcotics, possession of illegal large capacity firearm magazines, possession of a loaded firearm as well as misdemeanor violations including driving without a license.

This story was originally published January 17, 2019 at 2:23 PM.