Fentanyl seized on I-15 after K-9; Deputy locate loose panel on Jeep
LEEDS, Utah (KUTV) — A police K-9 helped Washington County deputies locate more than seven pounds of fentanyl being transported on I-15 early Thursday morning.
According to the Washington County Sheriff's Office, K-9 Cyrus assisted on a traffic stop and 'alerted to the scent of narcotics coming from the vehicle'. The Sheriff's Office shared a photo on social media of the pills in bags next to an I-15 sign.
Deputy Weaver with the Washington County Sheriff's Office stopped a silver Jeep traveling northbound on I-15 near Leeds for a potential window tint violation. The driver was identified as Kyle Smith by an out-of-state drivers license. According to a probable cause document, the windows were tested and determined to be darker than the legal limit. While the deputy and driver went to fill out a warning citation, K-9 Deputy Montgomery arrived and K-9 Cyrus conducted a detail around the vehicle.
"Once deployed K-9 Cyrus displayed clear and obvious changes in behavior while sniffing near the rear driver's door and driver's side quarter panel of the vehicle," wrote Deputy Montgomery in his report. "I observed these changes in behavior to be in the form of head checking and nasal purges as he sniffed this area. K-9 Cyrus then went into a standing and staring indication in this same area."
According to Deputy Montgomery, K-9 Cyrus' behavior indicated the possibility of locating narcotics.
"I began to search at the rear lift gate, where I observed the plastic molding to be tampered with as if it had been recently removed. I pushed my finger into this gap in the molding and the entire panel fell, exposing Six large bags of vacuum-sealed pills," wrote Deputy Montgomery.
Both deputies noted the pills contained the M30 symbol on them.
Deputy Weaver wrote that the M30 pills are commonly found when smuggled to be counterfeit Oxycodone and fentanyl pills.
"Inside each individual packaged bag were eight more individually packaged bags," wrote Deputy Weaver in the document. "In the small bags of five is commonly found that each little bag contains approximately 1,000 pills. I estimated the total count of pills to be approximately 30,000 pills. Weighing approximately 7.5 pounds/3,401 Grams."
Deputies arrested Smith on a felony possession charge with the intent to distribute fentanyl. The passenger, Solomon Allen, was also arrested.
