Traffic Stop Yields Largest Single Heroin Seizure in St. Tammany History

During a weekend traffic stop, deputies located $1.5 million worth of heroin traveling into St. Tammany Parish. Deputies also confiscated more than $23,000 worth of gift cards believed to be the proceeds from illegal activity after stopping another vehicle on Monday.

Late Saturday afternoon, deputies with the STPSO Highway Enforcement Unit stopped two vehicles that were travelling together eastbound on Interstate 12.

The drivers of the two vehicles, both nonresident aliens, provided deputies with vague explanations of a beach vacation, but their stories did not add up.

With the assistance of K9 Nero and K9 Echo, deputies searched both vehicles, uncovering 7.6 pounds of pure heroin hidden inside one of the vehicles. This is the largest single seizure of this deadly drug in St. Tammany Parish history, and this amount of heroin has a street-level value of approximately $1.5 million. A post-stop investigation led deputies to believe the drugs were not just passing through and were destined for sale in St. Tammany Parish.