Routine Traffic Stop Leads To Large Drug Bust In Canadian County

Heather Hope, News 9

CANADIAN COUNTY, Oklahoma -- A routine traffic stop in Canadian County on Friday left deputies with more than they were originally looking for.

Just last week the Canadian County Sheriff's Office says they did a drug bust for 250 pounds of high quality marijuana. And the common place deputies are spotting these drugs is on the interstate.

2/18/2013 Related Story: Deputies Find 28 Pounds Of Marijuana During Traffic Stop In Canadian County

"Any of these major crossroads you're going to see that kind of stuff," says Canadian County Undersheriff Chris West. "We just have guys who are vigilant and find this stuff."

Interstate 40 is a major crossroads for the country, and lately, it's been a magnet for finding high quality drugs.

West says 21-year-old Casey Ward of Dallastown, Pennsylvania was pulled over Friday afternoon on I-40 near Banner Road for not signaling during a lane change.

"It was a significant violation with the lane change," West says. "Not only did he not signal, but an individual kind of had to take evasive action."

Once a deputy approached Ward's car, he said it reeked of marijuana, so he sent for a dog to sniff the car.

"The dog did get a positive alert on the vehicle," he says. "Then we went into the vehicle, and in the trunk we located suitcases that were loaded with 28 individual vacuum-sealed packages of high-grade marijuana."

West says the drugs are probably worth $50,000 on the street.

"It's pretty high quality stuff, it's what we believe is probably called hydroponics," he says. "It's a pretty sophisticated growing system, where it could be a system where they're giving it lots of organic nutrients and water, and they get a pretty high yield THC out of these plants."

Ward was arrested and booked in the Canadian County Jail where he faces charges of trafficking marijuana, conspiracy to commit a felony and concealing drug proceeds.

It made for a big bust on a typical traffic violation.

"Yea, it's amazing what all we can do when you're just out there working a basic traffic safety stop," West says. "You run across all types of criminal activity."