MARION COUNTY, Fla. -- A semi driver was hauling more than melons along I-75 in Central Florida; investigators say he was also carrying more than 800 pounds of pot.

The trucker was headed south along I-75 Thursday when he was stopped at the Wildwood weigh station. Officers say the drugs were loaded in the truck like any other cargo.

Department of Transportation (DOT) special operation agents made one of its biggest busts of the year Thursday. They found $1 million worth of marijuana. It was poorly hidden behind a load of cantaloupe and honey dew melons.

“According to the driver, he had no idea who put 810 pounds of marijuana on the truck,” Captain Tony Bartolome, Highway Interdiction Program.

Officers arrested 31-year-old Richard Coulton and charged him with trafficking marijuana. But he may have never been arrested if one of his tires hadn't caught fire on I-10.

The bust started in Madison County where the driver of that refrigerated truck stopped to make a tire repair, but then just blew through the weigh station.

“Our civilian inspector went to assist him with the fire and the tire exploded causing injury to our inspector,” Bartolome said.

When Coulton didn't stick around to check on that inspector or finish his repairs, an alert went out until he was pulled over at the Wildwood station.

“We only inspect a minute number of vehicles due to manpower issues,” he said.

This time, investigators instincts were right on.

DOT has made some other major busts recently. Last week, 230 pounds of marijuana were discovered in a vehicle in Broward County, and last month a driver in the Panhandle was stopped carrying $822,000 in suspected drug money out of the state.