Troopers say Lutri helped seize nearly $350,000 in marijuana and hashish oil, beginning with two busts onboard the M/V Kennecott.
Last week a veteran of Dillingham’s drug enforcement efforts helped seize nearly $350 thousand dollars in pot and hash oil bound for Southeast Alaska. KDLG’s Dave Bendinger has more:
Audio transcript:
Lutri is a five-year-old Dutch Shepherd drug-sniffing K-9 who worked for the Dillingham Police Department for about two years. Although he had been effective finding drugs in luggage and at the post office, the Department had a hard time keeping trained handlers, and the City put Lutri up for adoption in early 2014.
He ended up in Ketchikan working for the state troopers there, who say he helped find a large amount of marijuana and hashish oil on board the ferry M/V Kennecott when it arrived from Bellingham, Washington on May 18.
Using Lutri, troopers say they turned up 2.65 pounds of hash oil with one male passenger, and 2.4 pounds of marijuana with a female passenger. They later found the male had additional marijuana and hashish at his home, and allegedly had more drugs coming on a barge from Seattle to Craig. Lutri helped find that shipment when the barge arrived May 24, which turned out to be 13.25 pounds of marijuana and over 3.15 pounds of hashish oil.
All told, troopers say the seized pot had a value of $215,000+, and the seized hash oil more than $132,000.
Troopers say they’ll forward drug charges to the district attorney’s office.