GREEN RIVER - Authorities were searching Wednesday for a man arrested for transporting 25 pounds of cocaine who escaped from a Wyoming Highway Patrol car and stole a state investigator's unmarked vehicle late Tuesday night in Rock Springs.

Highway Patrol officials said the cocaine seized in a traffic stop on Interstate 80 was valued at $1.1 million.

Patrol spokesman Sgt. Stephen Townsend said officers were unable to determine the name of the male suspect before he escaped. A second suspect in the case, a woman, is being held at the Sweetwater County Detention Facility on felony drug charges.

Townsend said the patrol is asking for the public's help in locating the missing vehicle, a gold 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix.

"We have no idea if he's still in the area or not… The car hasn't shown up yet ,and I bet it's been abandoned somewhere," Townsend said in a phone interview Wednesday. He said the suspect could possibly still be handcuffed.

Townsend said troopers stopped a speeding vehicle with out-of-state license plates just after 11 p.m. Tuesday on I-80 about 40 miles east of Rock Springs.

Neither the male driver of the car nor the female passenger could produce a valid driver's license or a valid form of identification, Townsend said. A search of the vehicle was then conducted to locate identification.

He said troopers noticed tool marks on the dashboard of the vehicle and discovered a compartment hidden under the dash. Inside were 10 kilo packages, or about 25 pounds of cocaine.

Townsend said both people were arrested, taken into custody and transported, along with their vehicle, to the Wyoming Department of Transportation shop facility in Rock Springs, where a Highway Patrol office is located.

Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents were brought in to help interview the suspects, Townsend said. Agents attempted to interview the man, but he refused to provide any information as to his identity or about the cocaine.

Townsend said the man was handcuffed and placed in the front passenger seat of the troopers' car parked at the patrol office. He said the suspect was left "unattended for a very short period of time" as troopers and DCI agents attempted to interview the female passenger.

When a trooper returned to his vehicle, he discovered that the male suspect had apparently slipped his handcuffs from behind him to his front and exited the patrol car. Townsend said the suspect then stole a DCI agent's unmarked vehicle that was parked nearby with the keys in it.

Officials weren't sure about the destination of the drugs. "Too early to tell, but with it being out-of-state plates and him being on the interstate, probably (the drugs were) just again traveling through," Townsend said.

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.

[CDATA[Can you help?

* The suspect is described as a black man, 30 to 35 years of age, with short black hair and a scar on his left cheek. He was last seen wearing jeans, a tank top and a blue sweatshirt.

* He was driving a stolen gold 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix, an unmarked law enforcement vehicle.

* Anyone who sees the missing vehicle is asked to call the nearest law enforcement agency or the Wyoming Highway Patrol at 1-800-442-9090.]]