Albert the Labrador retriever, a state police K-9, sat down near the trunk of a Nissan Maxima during a traffic stop on Interstate 95 in Groton on Wednesday morning, alerting state police to the presence of 29 kilograms of cocaine — the largest seizure of the drug ever seen in the region by attorneys who have worked narcotics cases for decades.

Amulfo Hiciano, 33, of North Providence, R.I., and Giovanni Carmona, 31, of Providence allegedly were transporting the drug from New York City to Rhode Island when troopers Scott Pierce and Lloyd Wright, who were patrolling while Department of Transportation trucks mowed in the area, pulled over their vehicles at 9:24 a.m. for weaving in and out of traffic between Exits 88 and 89 of I-95 north.

Hiciano and Carmona were ordered held on $25,000 cash Thursday, when they were arraigned in New London Superior Court on charges of failure to maintain the established lane, possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to sell.

Judge Omar A. Williams said the men would need to post the cash bail at court and surrender their passports.

Their family members were attempting to raise the cash, but a court official said both men remained incarcerated as of late Thursday afternoon.

The state police allege that Carmona, who was driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck, was acting as a “spotter” for Hiciano, who was carrying the 29 individually wrapped packages of cocaine — with an estimated street value of nearly $3 million — in the trunk of the Nissan Maxima.

In addition to the cocaine seized from Hiciano’s vehicle, the troopers said they seized from Carmona $5,742 in cash and two cellphones that Carmona said belonged to his father-in-law, whom he said he had just dropped off at the airport because he was going “on a permanent vacation to Colombia.”

“Traffickers will use multiple cars traveling together,” said the police report, written by Detective Gus Salas, K-9 Albert’s handler. “One car will have the contraband and other cars will be used as ‘spotters’ for counter surveillance. These spotter cars will be used to warn of police patrol units on the highway or of interdiction points.”

Sometimes the spotters create distractions to draw the attention of law enforcement away from the contraband car or to communicate the status of the “load” car to the bosses of their criminal enterprise, according to the report.

Spotter cars sometimes will cause accidents to divert attention from the “load” car.

Both men acted nervous after they were pulled over and said they were returning to Rhode Island from a New York airport, the report said.

Hiciano consented to a search of his car, but changed his mind when Pierce opened the trunk and saw two cardboard boxes.

Pierce requested the narcotics detection dog to be brought to the scene, and when Salas arrived with Albert, a K-9 veteran with more than four years on the job, the dog pulled on his leash, leading Salas straight to the trunk, according to the report.

“K9 Albert immediately sniffed on the boxes and alerted by sitting down, as he is trained to do when he detects the odor of contraband,” Salas wrote in the report.

The two cardboard boxes had “pharmacy markings” and a shipping label from McKesson, a pharmaceutical company in Robbinsville, N.J. They were addressed to First Choice Pharmacy, a pharmacy on East 124th St. in Manhattan.

After Hiciano gave them written consent to open the boxes, the troopers said they found the 29 packages of cocaine wrapped in gray duct tape.

Hiciano told Sgts. Keith Graham and Christopher High that he and Carmona, who had been pulled over about a quarter of a mile away, were traveling together, according to the report.

Hiciano said Carmona had asked him to follow him to New York to pick something up and drive it back to Rhode Island.

He said he agreed to do it in exchange for a few hundred dollars because he had just lost his job.

Hiciano had been working at Cox Communications but recently had been laid off, according to his attorney, Donald L. Williams.

Neither man has a criminal record, according to Bail Commissioner Timothy Gilman.

Carmona, who was born in Colombia but has lived in Rhode Island most of his life, told Gilman he invests in rental properties for income.

His attorney, Donald R. Beebe, arguing for a lower surety bond, said Carmona has been married for 10 years and was working for a construction company.

“The stuff that was found was not found in his car,” Beebe said. “He’s been a really good citizen for 31 years in this country.”

Judge Williams, in setting the cash-only bail, noted Carmona and Hiciano allegedly were working “in concert” with each other and that a substantial amount of cocaine was seized.

“There are people who claim to care a lot about you,” Judge Williams said to Carmona. “This is an opportunity for them to prove to you that they do.”

Hiciano was born in New Jersey, according to the bail commissioner.

Though he is currently unemployed, his attorney said he had “for the most part” been employed.

In arguing for a lower bond, Williams, the defense attorney, noted there were no weapons found and no violence involved with the incident and that the men were just passing through on their way to Rhode Island.

“There was no harm done to the State of Connecticut,” Williams argued.

Judge Williams reiterated that a large amount of narcotics is involved.

“The contraband was allegedly seized from this defendant’s vehicle,” the judge said. “So unfortunately this is the cost of doing business.”

The judge transferred the cases to the court where major crimes are tried and set the next court date for July 26.

Several attorneys who have prosecuted or defended narcotics cases in the region for years said Thursday that they could not remember a larger seizure of cocaine.

The case likely will be prosecuted by Paul J. Narducci, a senior assistant state’s attorney, who also said during a brief phone interview that it appears to be the largest cocaine seizure in recent memory.

k.florin@theday.com