FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, April 29, 2011

 CONTACT: Terry Woster, Public Information Officer, 605.773.3178

 

                Drug Stops Keep Highway Patrol Busy This Spring

PIERRE, S.D. – Between March 5 and April 25, Highway Patrol troopers made 19 traffic stops on South Dakota’s interstate highways that resulted in the seizure of 594 pounds of marijuana, over 10 grams of hashish, trace amounts of methamphetamine and psilocybin mushrooms and about $62,400 in cash. One of the arrests resulted in the seizure of 300 pounds of marijuana. 

 

“The numbers show that criminals continue to try to move drugs into and through South Dakota,’’ Col. Craig Price, superintendent of the State Highway Patrol, said. “Our troopers remain vigilant and work closely with other law enforcement agencies in the state to identify people trying to move illegal drugs and to stop their illegal activity.’’

 

The largest single arrest involved 300 pounds of hydroponic marijuana that was discovered after a rental truck being driven by an Oregon resident on Interstate 90 about eight miles east of Rapid City was stopped for speeding. That stop occurred on April 22.

 

Cash seized goes through a legal forfeiture process and is deposited in a drug control fund administered by the attorney general’s office. Marijuana and other illegal substances discovered in traffic stops are destroyed after the criminal case has been adjudicated. 

 

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Broadcast pronouncer

Psilocybin     Sil-uh-SEYE-bin