U.S. Homeland Security Investigations in Vermont has arrested a real estate agent

BURLINGTON — U.S. Homeland Security Investigations in Vermont has arrested a real estate agent from Rhode Island and seized about 27 pounds of cocaine from the would-be smuggler in Franklin County, federal court records show. Freddy J. Rodriguez, 38, of West Warwick, R.I., was found with more than 12 kilograms of cocaine as he prepared a nighttime load for a kayak to head north from Highgate to meet another vessel coming from Canada early Tuesday, court papers note. The cocaine seizure in Franklin County near the international border is one of the largest in Vermont in recent memory. Federal agents said Rodriguez was well-known to them from previous marijuana-smuggling events in northern New Hampshire, just east of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, court records note.