EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) An illegal alien from Mexico has been ordered to spend five years in federal prison for possessing more than a quarter ton of marijuana found hidden under squash during a southwestern Illinois traffic stop.

Thirty-seven-year-old Fran- cisco Javier-Rivera was sentenced Monday in East St. Louis.

Authorities say Javier- Rivera was smuggling 532 pounds of marijuana. Granite City police found it in February under 37,000 pounds of spaghetti squash in a tractor-trailer Rivera was driving during an Interstate 70 traffic stop.

Javier-Rivera pleaded guilty in May to possessing marijuana with plans to distribute it and to unlawfully entering the United States.

After his prison sentence, he will face deportation proceedings.