DRUG SEIZURES TIED TO TOP POLICE WORK

It started as a routine traffic stop just after midnight about a year ago
and turned into a year-long trend of drug arrests on the Ohio Turnpike and a
small section of I-280.

Two Seattle men were in a car traveling 73 mph in a 65-mph zone on the
turnpike just east of Toledo Express Airport when they were pulled over by
Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers. The men's stories about which Baltimore
grandmother they were going to visit didn't jibe when they were questioned.

With the use of a dog trained to detect drugs, authorities found 79 pounds
of marijuana in the luggage compartment of the rented vehicle, along with a
handgun.

It was Dec. 20, 2001, and a trend was born with Thursday drug arrests on the
turnpike and I-280 in Lucas County. The two Seattle men were sentenced to
prison in April.

Over the last year, state troopers have seized about 1,600 pounds of
marijuana, 100 pounds of cocaine, 23 pounds of hallucinogenic mushrooms -
all worth about $10 million - from vehicles along the turnpike and the small
section of I-280.

The patrol says it's a coincidence that 10 of the 16 arrests occurred on a
Thursday, and most were on the turnpike.

Of those 16 seizures, 10 of them occurred on a Thursday, including the first
five. Three stops were on Wednesdays, two on Mondays, and one was on a
Tuesday.

The arrests include the largest seizure in state history of hallucinogenic
mushrooms in January and $125,000 cash a week later.

At least two dozen arrests were made in the cases, and the biggest seizures
were two separate cocaine cases, worth $2 million each.

"It really has nothing to do with Thursdays," said patrol Sgt. Dean
Laubacher, head of the criminal drug interdiction team at Findlay district
headquarters. "It's nothing special we did.

"Everyone made it a big deal about Thursday. We didn't change our operation.
We didn't have more people," he said.

Mr. Laubacher said the successes were the result of the patrol refining its
investigative tactics. "This has been our most successful year since 1996,"
he said. "We are getting better at picking up on their [drug runners]
tactics. They know we are picking up on their tactics and are changing. We
will have to change with them."

Ohio is a crossroads for traffic that brings travelers and drug dealers,
authorities said.

"The patrol does a lot of local networking with other agencies such as
Toledo police and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency along with other state
police organizations," said Capt. Richard Collins at Findlay district
headquarters.

Other police agencies in other states - such as Nebraska - are sharing
information about various arrests and seizures, the captain said.

All told, the patrol has seized $1.8 million cash in northwest Ohio from
alleged dealers in the last year. That includes 12 counties from Lima to
Toledo.

The latest arrest was Dec. 19, when a Chicago man was stopped with 10 pounds
of cocaine in a spare tire. The drugs had a value of $400,000.

In the first nine months of this year throughout the state, the patrol
seized 3,377 pounds of marijuana worth a little more than $7.6 million. In
cocaine, the patrol seized 260 pounds worth $11.8 million.

The drug work has caught the attention of patrol headquarters in Columbus.
"We had a lot of large seizures this year and lot of them have occurred in
that area," said Sgt. Robin Schmutz, a patrol spokesman there.

Sergeant Schmutz said the arrests result from troopers applying normal
police skills to routine arrests, including asking lots of questions. "They'
re trained to interview people in the course of an investigation."