SALISBURY — A man has been charged with trafficking after deputies said that they discovered fentanyl in a secret compartment in his pants while checking him into the jail.

The incident began when a bailiff in the Rowan County Courthouse notified deputies that he was holding a man, identified as 31-year-old Brandon Jacob Peterson, who had outstanding warrants for his arrest, said Captain Mark McDaniel, public information officer. The deputies then reportedly responded to the courtroom and arrested Peterson and served him with warrants for misdemeanor breaking and entering, misdemeanor injury to real property and misdemeanor first-degree trespassing to enter or remain.

While deputies were checking him into the Rowan County Detention Center, Peterson told deputies that he did not have anything on him, McDaniel said. Deputies then searched him and reportedly found a bag with four rocks and powder in a pocket that had been found in a hidden, cut-out pocket in Peterson’s pants. Peterson allegedly told the deputies that the bag was filled with suboxone, but a test by the deputies reportedly revealed that it was six grams of fentanyl.

Peterson was transported back to the Rowan County Magistrate’s Office, where he was charged with felony trafficking heroin or opium and felony possession of a controlled substance on the premises of a penal institution. He was given no bond on the original charges due to the Pre-Trial Integrity Act.