South Dakota Highway Patrol
For Immediate Release:  Wednesday, May 1, 2002
For More Information: CPT Greg Ingemunson, Rapid City District Headquarters, 394-2286

Highway Patrol Makes Largest Meth Arrest To Date

Rapid City -- The South Dakota Highway Patrol has made its largest meth arrest to date on South Dakota’s highways.

Col. Tom Dravland said today that four people were arrested on I-90 near Spearfish on Tuesday while transporting approximately 18 pounds of methamphetamine

The left rear door panel.

Nine of the 18 packages seized.

from the state of Washington to Illinois. The drugs have a street value of approximately $345,000.

“We can measure the amount of drugs we seized, but there’s no way to measure the many lives and people’s property we saved with this arrest,” Dravland said.  

The eastbound vehicle had been stopped by a State Trooper for equipment violations, when the Trooper’s canine alerted to the scent of illegal drugs coming from the vehicle.  A search of the vehicle lead to the discovery of 9 packages of methamphetamine hidden in each rear door of the vehicle. 

The four subjects in the vehicle, two males and two females, were taken into custody.  The arrest occurred at about 3:08 p.m. (MT) on Tuesday, April 30.

Agencies assisting the Highway Patrol on the investigation are the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, the Spearfish Police Department and the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The meth arrest is the latest in a number of large drug arrests made recently by the Highway Patrol:
* 24 pounds of marijuana were seized on I-90 near Humboldt on April 28, 2002
* 14 pounds of cocaine were seized on I-90 near Chamberlain on April 8, 2002
* 25 pounds of marijuana were seized on I-90 near the Wyoming border on Jan. 24, 2002

Dravland said, “We refuse to let people use our highways to transport drugs to our state or through our state and destroy countless lives.”

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Note:  4 pictures showing the locations of the drugs in the vehicle and the packages seized are available in electronic form by calling CPT Greg Ingemunson in the Rapid City District Headquarters at 394-2286.