ST. GEORGE — Large amounts of methamphetamine and marijuana were taken off the streets during two traffic stops by the Utah Highway Patrol during the same day last week.
During a morning traffic stop on Interstate 15 through Cedar City last Thursday, a UHP trooper pulled over a suspect vehicle and asked for assistance from Cedar City Police in the form of a K-9 officer.
According to a statement from the Cedar City Police Department, K-9 Duco and his handler, Officer Bryan Moore, were dispatched to the scene. Once Duco got to work, he sniffed out 15 pounds of methamphetamine concealed within the vehicle.
The street value of the find equates to over $350,000, according to the Cedar City Police Department.
Duco is a 6-year-old Belgian Malinois and has been working with Moore for three years.
Max, another Cedar City K-9 officer, assisted the UHP in finding 5 pounds of cocaine in a stopped vehicle in January.
Read more: Cedar City K-9 leads UHP to large cocaine, ecstasy bust
In a separate incident the same day, a UHP trooper stopped a vehicle for following too closely behind another vehicle, according to a probable cause statement.
The responding trooper wrote in the statement that he could smell marijuana in the vehicle. A resulting search produced approximately 48 pounds of marijuana and 1,600 THC cartridges commonly used in vape pens. Some marijuana edibles and related paraphernalia were also found.
According to the statement, the marijuana and THC cartridges were being taken to Chicago.
This incident resulted in the arrest of Ryan R. Raehl, of Aurora, Illinois. He was subsequently charged with a felony and misdemeanors related to the intent to distribute drugs and drug possession and paraphernalia.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.
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