A half-pound of cocaine and thousands in cash were confiscated and nine illegal immigrants were arrested during a highway interdiction operation Friday that employed modern imaging software to find hidden compartments in trucks and shipping containers.

The gamma ray imaging technology was used to examine seven trucks stopped at a Florida Department of Transportation weigh station in Islamorada, Monroe County sheriff's spokeswoman Becky Herrin said.

"This is the first time that we've worked with the [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] using the imaging technology," Herrin said of the Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS), "It's commonly used at seaports and at border checkpoints, but it can really be used anywhere."

The Sheriff's Office also stopped vehicles for traffic infractions, which lead to some criminal discoveries.

The first stop, for example, netted 139 grams of crack cocaine, 87 grams of powder cocaine, 12 grams of marijuana, five Xanax pills and $2,047 in cash, Herrin said. Thomas Council, 41, and Howie Schnieder, 22, both of Key West, were charged with felony trafficking in cocaine. Patrick Stickney, 22, also of Key West, was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession.

In another case, which turned out to be legal, two trucks were carrying more than 300 pounds of shark meat, two sailfish and more than $5,000 worth of whole lobsters. The shark meat raised suspicions because shark is out of season, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Special Agent Ken Blackburn.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers determined the drivers had the state proper paperwork for the lobsters and swordfish, but called NOAA to investigate federal laws regarding the sharks, FWC spokesman Lt. David Dipre said.

"With shark season being closed it looked like a violation, but the boat that fished them has an experimental permit allowing them to catch out of season," Blackburn said. "There's only a few boats down here that have that permit."

The special permit allows researchers who tag or dissect sharks to harvest the meat if the shark dies during the capture or is killed for biopsy, Blackburn said.

"About nine boats have that permit in Monroe County and the sharks are caught with a NOAA employee on the boat," Blackburn said. "Everything was legal and they were good to go."

There were a total of 151 vehicle stops during both operations, leading to 84 tickets and 31 canine drug searches, Herrin said.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Administration, Coast Guard Investigative Service, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Department of Transportation also contributed to the operation, Herrin said.

alinhardt@keysnews.com