Officers with the Picayune Police Department conducting a safety checkpoint on Jan. 15, found a driver to be in possession of a large amount of high-grade marijuana.

According to a departmental release, while working the checkpoint on Highway 11 near the intersection of Interstate 59, a vehicle driven by 28-year-old Dewayne Terrell Yates of 583 Carroll Street Apt. B pulled up. Officers detected the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle while speaking with Yates, resulting in a search of his vehicle, the release states.

In the search, the officers found a large plastic container housing a number of small plastic bags of a green leafy substance suspected to be hydroponic marijuana along with a digital scale, the release states.

Other smaller bags were found with a residue similar to the leafy substance in the plastic container in the driver’s side door compartment along with bags containing Xanax pills, a metal grinder with a leafy residue and a hand rolled cigar containing a green leafy substance suspected to be marijuana the release states.

Yates was arrested for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.