FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 10, 2000

CONTACT: SID GAULDEN, 803-896-8755

HIGHWAY PATROL MAKES SECOND MASSIVE DRUG

SEIZURE THIS YEAR ON I-85 IN GREENVILLE COUNTY

COLUMBIA - Gov. Jim Hodges and South Carolina Department of Public Safety Director Boykin Rose announced details today of a drug seizure with a street value of nearly $45 million, just four months after one of the state’s largest drug seizures in history. In April, the Highway Patrol ACE Team seized nearly 1,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of nearly $45 million. According to the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, this was the largest methamphetamine seizure ever during a drug stop.

On Wednesday night, August 9, two of the same members of the Highway Patrol ACE Team involved in the April drug arrests stopped a 1997 Toyota van around 10 p.m. for speeding and following too closely in the northbound lanes of I-85 at the 47 mile marker. The canine unit was called in and the car was searched, turning up 100 pounds of methamphetamines with a street value of nearly $45 million. One person has been charged.

With a combined street value of nearly $90 million, the April and August drug seizures are among the largest in state history. The HP ACE team also seized more than 400 pounds of marijuana and arrested four men in two overnight traffic stops along I-85 in Greenville County on August 1. The street value of the seized marijuana was about $874,000.

"This is just the latest in a series of large drug seizures by the Highway Patrol in the I-85 area," said Gov. Jim Hodges. "Getting drugs and drug dealers off our highways is key to making our state safer and it’s a priority for the Department of Public Safety and my office."

As the state’s highway death toll continues to rise -- 652 this year compared with 626 at this time last year -- the Department of Public Safety is using a number of new enforcement techniques to get violators’ attention. There have been 11 fatal collisions in the Midlands area alone in recent weeks where vehicles crossed the median and were struck by another vehicle.

Since that time, the Highway Patrol has increased the number of troopers on the roads to work the most dangerous areas of I-77, I-20 and I-26 and have begun using stealth cars to blend into traffic and canvas the area for violators. Operation STOP, a selective enforcement measure, is being used in all seven HP districts throughout the state to target highways that have been identified by collision data and citizen complaints as being some of the state’s most dangerous areas to travel. The Aviation Unit is travelling from district to district conducting aerial enforcement blitzes.

"We will continue using whatever means it takes to slow people down and take dangerous drivers and criminals off our roads," said DPS Director B. Boykin Rose. "The recent drug arrests are products of the hard work being done by our law enforcement to clean up our highways."

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SI/98/00

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