FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – Over $2 million worth of drugs have been seized with the help of a K-9 following a traffic stop in Merced County, also leading to the arrest of a man from Oregon, the California Highway Patrol said.
Officers say a K-9 officer conducted an enforcement stop on a 2013 Hyundai Elantra for a traffic violation on Wednesday around 4 p.m. northbound I-5, north of Nees Avenue in Merced County with the traffic violations being observed in Fresno County.
CHP says the driver, identified as Issac Abraham Sandoval Lopez, 36, of Portland, Oregon, was unlicensed. While conducting a vehicle inventory prior to impounding the Hyundai, the officer located a plastic bag on the right rear passenger floor that contained several packages of suspected crystal methamphetamine.
Two additional suitcases and a backpack with several packages of suspected crystal methamphetamine and three packages of unknown narcotics were also discovered, officers say.
CHP says the stop ended in the seizure of around 262 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, 5 pounds of fentanyl powder, and 2 pounds of heroin. The drugs had an estimated street value of $2,669,520. Lopez was arrested as a result, and the case was turned over to the Fresno High Impact Investigation Team (HIIT).