Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON, Washington County — A pair of large drug busts in southern Utah over the past month, resulting in more than 35 pounds of methamphetamine being seized, can be attributed to an alert K-9.
On Sunday, an Orem man was arrested after police say they found a large amount of drugs in his spare tire.
Mauro Flores-Murillo, 41, was charged Monday in 5th District Court with two counts of drug possession with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor.
The weekend incident started when a Washington police officer pulled over a Ford Econoline van for following a semitruck too closely on I-15.
Officers were going to give Flores-Murillo a warning, when they decided to have police K-9 "Zook" "conduct a free air sniff of the exterior of the vehicle." The dog indicated the possible presence of drugs, according to a police booking affidavit, prompting a search of the van.
That's when police discovered a spare tire underneath the van that did not fit the vehicle.
"I then observed the spare tire to not be filled with air. I then lowered the spare tire and observed for it to have a large cut in the tire. The cut in the tire had a black towel blocking the hole in the tire. I removed the tire and observed 15 large plastic bags that contained a white crystal like substance consistent with methamphetamine," police wrote in the affidavit. "I also observed a black plastic bag that contained a brown tar like substance consistent with heroin which was approximately 2.5 pounds."
St. George News reported that each of the 15 bags of meth weighed 1 pound. The meth and heroin combined have an estimated street value of $350,000, the site reported.
The large drug bust comes on the heels of an even larger bust by the same officer a month ago.
On July 6, a car traveling on I-15 was pulled over on Washington Parkway for a minor traffic violation. While a citation was being written, Zook was used again to conduct an open air sniff of the vehicle.
After police say Zook indicated the possible presence of drugs inside the vehicle, a search was conducted.
"In the trunk of the vehicle I observed a large plastic bag with a zipper on the top. I unzipped the bag and observed 21 individual large plastic zip lock bags. Each bag contained a white crystal like substance consistent with methamphetamine. Each bag was later weighed and the total weight was approximately 21 pounds," another police affidavit states.
In the back seat, police found "thousands" of fentanyl pills in four large bundles weighing approximately 3.5 pounds, according to the affidavit.
Iram Issael Lopez-Lopez, 26, and Carlos Ivan Fuentes Alameda, 23, both of Sinaloa, Mexico, were charged in 5th District Court with two counts of drug possession with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony, in addition to several traffic infractions.
"It's great work," Washington Police Chief Jason Williams said of the recent busts.
And even if the drugs weren't destined to be delivered in Washington, it gets the drugs off the street, the chief said, who also noted the area has seen an "uptick" in drugs being transported.
