EMERY COUNTY, Utah, Aug. 29, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah Highway Patrol Troopers made three traffic stops within two days on Tuesday and Wednesday, and were able to seize 100 pounds of meth and as many as 1,000 oxycodone pills.
The first traffic stop was at about 8:39 a.m., on eastbound Interstate 70 in Emery County, a Utah Highway Patrol statement said. The second stop was in the same approximate location, at 10:20 a.m.
“Both traffic stops yielded large amounts of methamphetamine, totaling 61 pounds. Five hundred to 1,000 oxycodone pills were also located in one of the vehicles,” the UHP statement said. “These stops were unrelated, but were stopped in the same general area, within a couple of hours of each other.”
The first vehicle stopped had two male occupants.
“During the course of the stop, the trooper became suspicious of criminal activity, specifically drug trafficking,” the statement said. “A narcotic dog was deployed and subsequently gave a positive indication to the presence of narcotic odor coming from the vehicle. A probable cause search was conducted which yielded the following illegal narcotics, concealed inside the vehicle: 20 pounds of methamphetamine 500-1000 (30 mg) Oxycodone pills. It is suspected the drugs originated in Southern California and were destined for Canton, Ohio.”
During traffic stop two, the troopers again suspected drug trafficking.
“A narcotic dog was deployed and subsequently gave a positive indication to the presence of narcotic odor coming from the vehicle,” the statement said. “A probable cause search was conducted which yielded the following illegal narcotics, concealed inside the vehicle: 41 pounds of methamphetamine. It is suspected the methamphetamine originated in Compton, California and was destined for Omaha, Nebraska.”
The last traffic stop was Wednesday at approximately 5:05 p.m., when a vehicle was stopped northbound on I-15 in Iron County for traffic violations.
“During the course of the stop, the trooper observed signs of drug use from the occupants,” the statement said. “He observed a meth pipe in the passenger compartment of the vehicle which was in plain view. A probable cause search was conducted which yielded the 39 pounds of methamphetamine concealed inside the vehicle. It is suspected the methamphetamine originated in Los Angeles, California, and was destined for Colorado.”
The UHP statement noted that a dosage unit for one use of meth is generally 1/10 gram, so 100 pounds methamphetamine equals 453,592 dosage units of meth. The estimated street value of the methamphetamine seized is $2,267,960.
