OSP stop for speeding on Hwy. 97 in Madras turns up 7 pounds of meth; 2 Wash. residents arrested

MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – An Oregon State Police trooper made a traffic stop for speeding on Highway 97 in Madras Sunday evening, leading to the discovery of more than seven pounds of methamphetamine and the arrest of two Washington state residents.

The trooper pulled over a Hyundai Elantra around 7:20 p.m. for speeding on the highway near E Street, a trooper said. They did not have information on the speed reported by the trooper.

During the traffic stop, “the trooper noticed signs of criminal activity,” and received consent to search the car, which turned up the meth, a news release stated.

Troopers said the car’s two female occupants, a 42-year-old Yakima resident and a 20-year-old from Kennewick, who are mother and daughter, were booked into the Jefferson County jail on drug possession, manufacture and attempted distribution of commercial quantities of methamphetamine.

Troopers were assisted during the investigation by detectives from OSP’s Criminal Investigations Division-Drug Enforcement Section (Domestic Highway Enforcement Initiative), special agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bend Task Force and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

The OSP Domestic Highway Enforcement Initiative is supported by the Oregon-Idaho High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). The HIDTA program, sponsored by the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy, is a counter-drug grant program that coordinates with and provides funding resources to multi-agency drug enforcement initiatives, including the OSP-DHE initiative