A traffic stop in northwest Indiana took an unexpected turn when state police discovered from than 1,200 pounds of marijuana.

A state trooper stopped a van for a moving violation on I-65 near the Lowell exit.

A K-9 sniff of the exterior of the vehicle lead officers to search the inside of the van. During that search, troopers discovered dozens of large boxes and garbage bags.

Inside the boxes were more than 1,200 individually sealed bags, each weighing about a pound and a half of pot with an estimated street value of up to 8.5 million dollars.

The driver, Christopher Colburn, 31, of McKinleyville, California, was placed under arrest.