3 people charged after heroin, cocaine and marijuana seized during Birmingham DEA investigation

BIRMINGHAM, Al.
 Three men have been charged in federal court with conspiring to distribute drugs after a year-long investigation by Birmingham DEA agents led to police confiscating heroin, cocaine and marijuana in a traffic stop on Monday, court records show.
An affidavit filed today accuses Wilbert Hankins, also known as "Bam," Gregory Perry, also known as "Unc," and Vladimir Pavlov with conspiracy to distribute the drugs.
The investigation, which started in the spring of 2011, led agents on Monday to stake out a stretch of Interstate 22 east near the Alabama-Mississippi state line.
A traffic stop by Alabama State Troopers, and a subsequent search by a canine, led authorities to 42 kilogram-sized bricks in a hydraulic compartment under a trailer. That trailer was being pulled by a truck driven by Pavlov, the records stated.
A field test found that two of the bricks -- which were wrapped in cellophane, tape and grease -- contained heroin. A third brick tested positive for cocaine. Also inside the trailer were 10 bundles of what authorities said they believed was marijuana.
Pavlov was arrested. Hankins and Perry were arrested a short time later at a gas station on U.S. 78 in Forestdale, the records show.