A police K-9 in Anderson, California, is getting lots of praise for his work on Sunday in detecting an extremely dangerous substance.
Police officers pulled over a car just after 11:00 a.m. at Gateway Drive and Balls Ferry Road for vehicle code violations and discovered the driver, whose name is David Leyva-Legarra, and his passenger, Celida Montes-Ruiz, were from Mexico, per ABC Action News Now.
Authorities said the officers identified the man by his Mexico identification card but he was unlicensed. During their investigation at the scene, police noticed several things that were indicators of drug trafficking. They asked the male suspect for consent to search the car, but he refused:
APD OFFICERS MAKE FENTANYL ARRESTCASE NUMBER: APD24-002491On November 10th, 2024, at approximately 1103 hours, an…
Posted by Anderson Police Department on Sunday, November 10, 2024
That was when officers knew they needed extra help from a four-legged expert. According to the department’s social media post:
While attempting to positively identify Leyva-Legarra and Montes-Ruiz, APD K9 Rip was deployed to conduct a free air sniff of the vehicle Leyva-Legarra was driving. Shortly after, K9 Rip alerted to the presence of an illegal drug he is trained to detect resulting in a probable cause search of Leyva-Legarra, Montes-Ruiz and the vehicle.
Officers located a usable amount of suspected fentanyl on Leyva-Legarra’s person. A search of the vehicle revealed approximately 2.2 lbs. of suspected fentanyl hidden in the liner of the trunk. Both Leyva-Legarra and Montes-Ruiz denied ownership of the suspected fentanyl.
The suspects were arrested for possession and transportation of a narcotic controlled substance for the purpose of sales and booked into Shasta County Jail.
“It should be noted, according to the DEA, 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be a lethal dose depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage. Leyva-Legarra and Montes-Ruiz possessed enough fentanyl to provide over 498,000 lethal doses,” the police department said.
Social media users showered praise on the officers and K-9 Rip, one person writing, “Good boy, Rip! Thank you, APD!”
“Good job APD and K9 Rip!! Great catch,” another user commented.
In February, a K-9 Officer in Lane County, Oregon, helped make two back-to-back drug busts that involved fentanyl, Breitbart News reported at the time.
