Fentanyl, cocaine among over 140 pounds of drugs seized in Barstow busts

Federal and local authorities arrested four people and seized over 140 pounds of hard drugs from their vehicles in two separate busts in Barstow this month.

U.S. Border Patrol agents in Barstow seized about 35 pounds of fentanyl and arrested two men identified only as a 23-year-old U.S. citizen and a 31-year-old Guatemalan citizen shortly after midnight Oct. 17 at a gas station near the Interstate 15 off-ramp by Barstow Road, the Department of Homeland Security branch said in a press release.

A few days later, the Barstow Police Department arrested two residents of Ontario, Canada, 52-year-old Sasa Mihajlovic and 26-year-old Sean Sawram, after seizing about 110 pounds of cocaine from a semi-truck they drove, BPD said in a Facebook post.

The seizures provide recent examples of what Barstow residents worry is a worsening problem of drugs being trafficked through and sold in the rural High Desert city, where multiple highways intersect.

Related: San Bernardino County health officials address surge of fentanyl deaths, overdoses

It's unclear what led Border Patrol agents from the Murrieta Station in southern Riverside County to Barstow the night of Oct. 17, but the agency said that officers encountered the two unnamed men in a silver sedan.

"After a brief conversation with the individuals, agents discovered multiple bundles concealed inside the vehicle’s trunk," the release said. The packages later tested positive for fentanyl at a total weight of about 35 pounds, which the agency says carries a street value of $553,000.

The fentanyl, along with the Guatemalan and U.S. citizens hauling it, were turned over by the agents to Homeland Security investigators, while their vehicle was seized by the Border Patrol, according to the release.

Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said in the release that San Diego Sector agents of the Border Patrol are responsible for more than half of all fentanyl seized by the agency this year. San Diego agents have seized more than 1,000 pounds of fentanyl since Oct. 1, 2021, according to the release, which says that's a rise of about 200% from the same period a year prior.

More: Rainbow fentanyl passed out on Halloween? Why experts say that's 'absolutely ludicrous.'

Four days after that incident, on Oct. 21, Barstow Police officer Irwin Islas pulled over a semi-truck in the area of I-15 and Lenwood Road "for a vehicle code violation," BPD said in a Facebook post.

"While Officer Islas was conducting the traffic stop," the agency said, "Officer Austin Jaramillo arrived and deployed his K9 partner Bailey, to search for the presence of illegal narcotics."

After an alert from the drug-sniffing dog, the officers "located 50 individually packaged kilograms (approximately 110 pounds) of cocaine" in the trailer being hauled by the semi-truck. The officers arrested and booked both Canadian residents driving the truck. BPD didn't provide an estimated black-market value for the seizure, but comparable estimates from past seizures pin a load of this size anywhere from $2 million to $10 million.

Mihajlovic remained in custody at High Desert Detention Center as of Sunday in lieu of $5 million bail on a felony charge of transportation of a controlled substance, according to county booking information. No booking information was available for Sawram.

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Charlie McGee covers California’s High Desert for the Daily Press, focusing on the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities. He is also a Report for America corps member with The GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: 4 arrested, over 140 pounds of drugs seized in Barstow busts