DILLON — Beaverhead County law enforcement conducted a raid at a truck stop south of Dillon, which officers allege was being used as a front for a processing operation for an illegal, exotic drug.
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“There was probably 30 to 35 law enforcement officers out there, and it kind of sent a message, ‘don’t bring that crap to our town,’” Beaverhead County Sheriff David Wendt said.
The crap officers allegedly uncovered in the raid was just over 100 pounds of dried, unwashed poppies. Police allege the owner of this truck stop on Rebich Lane and two other men were grinding down the poppies in the basement of the business and selling them to truckers passing through.
The sheriff described this as an uncommon schedule-two controlled substance.
“You can consume it, and it has kind of like almost the same effect as Fentanyl or an opiate and then you can use it like in tea and it kind of messes you up,” he said.
Law enforcement was tipped off about the alleged operation about a week and a half before the raid. A trucker told officials at a weigh station near Lima about the truck stop.
“That trucker come in that and said, ‘hey, these guys offered me this poppy flower,’ so then we just kind of been watching the place, making a game plan and we got evidence and that’s when we went in and kicked the doors in,” Wendt said.
Three men are being held in Beaverhead County jail on $750,000 bond each. The identities of the suspects will be released soon.
