Two East Providence police officers seized $39,500 in cash on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 20, after a routine stop on Interstate 195, according to Sgt. Diogo Mello, who heads the Vice Unit.

Mello and Investigator Darren Ellinwood stopped a vehicle with Rhode Island plates. The car was traveling eastbound near Exit 8. It was pulled over for having excessive tint on its windows.

“It was a pretty good score,” Mello said in an East Providence Post story.

Mello said in his report on the stop that he observed the passengers make nervous-looking movements. He asked them to roll down the front and rear windows because of the heavy tint. He said he immediately smelled an “overwhelming odor of air freshener” from inside the car.

Sgt. Mello said the three occupants in the car were “visibly shaking and wouldn’t maintain eye contact.”  And when questioned, they seemed “evasive and deceptive,” according to the Post story.

Mello and Ellinwood removed the passengers from the car. They were patted down and frisked. Officers found two 3-inch knives on two of the passengers, Anson Carrion and Daysy Osorio.

Mello and Ellinwood asked to search the vehicle. They soon discovered an after-market compartment hidden under the floor matting; it was approximately 16 inches wide by 8 inches long and 3 inches deep.

The officers found four bundles of cash inside the compartment.

Carrion, Orsorio and the vehicle’s driver, Silvio Rosaroio, were transported to headquarters for processing.  The vehicle and currency were confiscated.