Patrol seizes seven times more heroin than in ’15

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio troopers seized about seven times as much heroin during the first half of 2016 as they did during the same period last year, an increase that the State Highway Patrol attributes at least in part to several large drug busts.

The patrol seized more than 53 kilograms of heroin with an estimated value of nearly $8 million from January through June, according to its data.

In one case from late June, troopers found 6 kilos of heroin and a half-pound of cocaine in a sport utility vehicle that was stopped for speeding on Interstate 76 near Akron, leading to charges against a Canton driver and a California man riding with him.

The rise in heroin seizures comes amid other signs that Ohio’s opiate-related problems continue to grow. On Thursday, state leaders announced that a committee will study drug-use prevention education in Ohio schools.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, saw 15 overdose deaths in a recent three-day span that were attributed to heroin, the synthetic opiate fentanyl or a combination of those.

Earlier this summer, a narcotics-detection dog helped U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers in Cincinnati seize over 10 pounds of heroin stashed in candles in a shipment of “praying items” headed from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Ontario, Canada.