Fayette County sheriff’s office drug dog Lobos struck again Thursday, discovering $2.2 million in heroin during a traffic stop on Interstate 10.
Deputies seized 22 kilos of the suspected heroin after finding the drugs hidden in the frame of a trailer pulled by a pickup truck.
Deputies arrested both the driver, Jose Flores, and passenger, Isela De Ita. They were charged with possession of a controlled substance, the sheriff’s office said.
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Both Flores, 31, and De Ita, 26, were in the Fayette County Jail Thursday afternoon.
The traffic stop happened on Interstate 10 west of Flatonia at 7:45 a.m. Thursday. A deputy stopped the vehicle, saw several “criminal indicators” and asked to search the vehicle. Flores consented and Sgt. Randy Thumann brought in Lobos, the sheriff’s office’s Belgian malinois drug dog.
In about the past two months, Lobos’ drug seizures have resulted in nine additional arrests. The dog and his sergeant have found the following:
- June 30 — 105 pounds of marijuana hidden under altered seats of a pickup truck. The street value of those drugs was valued at $55,000.
- June 26 — 20 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in fire extinguishers in a pickup truck.
- May 20 — 11 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a compartment built into the floor of a Dodge truck.
- May 7 — 2.4 pounds of cocaine under the backseat of a vehicle and trunk of the vehicle and 28 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in five torque converters, with a street value of approximately $1.3 million.
Each drug bust happened during traffic stops on Interstate 10, a major corridor for illegal drugs that passes through southern Fayette County. Most of the suspects arrested in these cases have ties to the drug trade in Mexico and are usually en route to Houston, Lt. David Beyer with the sheriff’s office said.
