Three cross-country marijuana trafficking suspects were arrested near Caldwell Tuesday after police found 64 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop.

Victor Karl Banks, 32, Cornelious Martell Petty, 28, and Bryan W. Freeman, 51, are in the Canyon County Jail on felony trafficking marijuana charges.

An Idaho State Police trooper was parked on an Interstate 84 median near milepost 25 about 2:11 p.m. when he saw the driver of an eastbound Chrysler 300 with California plates "trying to hide his face and body from me as he went by," according to a probable cause affidavit.

The trooper stopped the Chrysler after it failed to stay within one lane and the driver, later identified as Petty, didn't signal 5 seconds before changing lanes, according to the affidavit.

The trooper said Petty, of Alabama, appeared "extremely nervous" and told a nonsensical story, then allowed him to search the vehicle. The trooper found a FedEx box in the backseat filled with marijuana, as well as four boxes in the trunk.

An state police corporal stopped a Cadillac that appeared to be following the Chrysler and identified Banks, also of Alabama, as the driver and Freeman as a passenger. The men had FedEx paperwork that linked them to the pot-filled boxes in Petty's car, police said. Documents also indicated the men had flown to Sacramento on the same plane and that Freeman, of Indiana, had rented the Chrysler and Cadillac.

Petty said the Cadillac had been following him since California, police said. The men asked to speak to a lawyer when interviewed by detectives.Banks is jailed on $100,000 bond. Petty and Freeman have a bond of $75,000.

It's the second multi-pound marijuana bust in the Treasure Valley in three weeks. Jeffery Boyd Ash, 54, of Fayetteville, Ark., was arrested Nov. 20 after Boise police found 28 pounds of marijuana in his motel room. He remains in the Ada County Jail on $150,000 bond.