One of the two Rhode Island men charged July 13 with transporting a record amount of cocaine through the state posted bond Tuesday following an appearance in New London Superior Court.

The family of Amulfo Hiciano, 33, of North Providence, R.I., came to court prepared to post the $25,000 cash bail set last week by Judge Omar A. Williams, but Judge Hillary B. Strackbein converted the bond to $200,000 cash or surety after hearing arguments from prosecutor Paul J. Narducci and defense attorney Donald L. Williams.

Shortly before noon, Hiciano left the Huntington Street courthouse with a bondsman from Statewide Bail Bonds to be fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet by the Department of Adult Probation.

Strackbein placed him under 24-hour house arrest and required him to surrender his passport.

State police said they seized 29 kilograms of cocaine — the largest seizure of the drug ever seen in the region by attorneys who have worked narcotics cases for decades — after pulling over Hiciano and Giovanni Carmona, 31, of Providence.

The men were traveling in separate vehicles and were weaving in and out of traffic between exits 88 and 89 of I-95 north, according to state troopers.

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 he was driving.

The men allegedly were transporting the cocaine from New York City to Rhode Island.

During the bond argument Tuesday, Narducci argued that the $25,000 cash bail was insufficient given the nature of the case and the fact that the defendant has no ties to the community.

Williams said his client is a U.S. citizen who owns a home in Providence, which is less than an hour away, and has no criminal record.

Williams said Hiciano’s family members had taken loans to come up with the $25,000 cash.

He said no harm had been done to the State of Connecticut by “the transport” and there was no violence involved.

Narducci said the state does not have the judicial reach to go into Rhode Island to retrieve Hiciano should he fail to appear in court.

The family posted a surety bond, which means they paid a fee to the bondsman, who would be responsible for the full amount should Hiciano fail to appear in court.

Unlike the state, the bondsman would be able to cross state lines in order to retrieve him.

The judge ordered Hiciano to have no contact with Carmona, who also was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 cash at last week’s arraignment.

Carmona is due in court on Wednesday for a similar bond hearing.

In converting Hiciano’s bail from $25,000 to the $200,000 cash/surety, Strackbein said the amount of drugs seized was “exceptionally high” and that federal prosecutors may be taking over the case.

After he was arrested, Hiciano told state police that 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.

Hiciano’s next court date is Aug. 23.

k.florin@theday.com