Ohio State Highway Patrol Seizes $9 Million Of Cocaine During Traffic Stop

Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) troopers recently confiscated millions of dollars worth of cocaine in one traffic stop, according to a press release.

On November 2 at 1:55 p.m., Troopers stopped a U-Haul truck with Arizona registration for a "following too close violation" on Interstate 70, according to the release. OSHP said criminal indicators were observed and a drug-sniffing dog alerted to the vehicle. Troopers then searched the vehicle and found contraband.

After the suspected narcotics were sent to the Ohio State Highway Patrol Crime Lab for testing, they discovered it was 220 pounds of cocaine, which is worth approximately $9 million, according to the release. The driver, 25-year-old Sebastian Alapizco Flores, of Mexicali, Mexico, was taken to the Tri-County Jail and charged with possession of cocaine, which is a first-degree felony. If convicted, Flores could face up to 11 years in prison and up to a $20,000 fine.

According to Vertava Health, the number of those suffering from substance use has climbed in recent years. "According to SAMHSA’s Behavioral Health Barometer in 2014, 76,000 adolescents and 267,000 adults living in Ohio reported using illicit drugs. Based on this data, both adult and adolescent admissions into substance use treatment facilities was 37,024 in 2014," they said.