By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
One of America’s major drug trafficking highways is I-70, which is made up of approximately 2,151 miles of road stretching across 10 states. This highway also passes directly through Emery County, causing concern about drugs seeping into the community.
Fortunately for residents of Emery, the Emery County Sheriff’s Office works diligently to halt the trafficking of drugs not just in the county but preventing them from spreading across the country. “Although we don’t always report on the seizures, they happen frequently,” shared Emery County Sheriff Tyson Huntington in a social media post.
The Sheriff highlighted two recent instances of these seizures occurring in late 2024. “These pictures (seen below) are from two seizures on I-70 by Deputy Egan Smith and K-9 Deputy Dak. Both were seizures of marijuana. One seizure was 25 pounds and the other was 23 pounds. The 23 pound seizure included firearms.”
Along with the firearms, three handgun switches were also captured. These switches allow semiautomatic handguns to be converted to fully automatic weapons. These firearms utilize a striking method of fire, in which bullets are struck to create a small explosion propelling the bullets forward.
According to TheTrace.org,” A small metal foot called a sear is designed to catch the striker before it hits another round, but a switch overrides this mechanism, depressing the sear as the slide rushes forward after each recoil. With the sear depressed, the striker is able to slam into the next round, causing the cycle to repeat. The gun will continue firing until the trigger is released.”
Huntington clarifies,” Luckily, the guns were not used during the incident.”
“It is illegal to traffic illegal controlled substances in the state of Utah and it violates additional laws to traffic firearms while in possession of controlled substances,” added the Sheriff.
Speaking to Castle Country Radio, Sheriff Huntington spoke highly of the department’s work to halt drug trafficking: “Our deputies are always willing to put in the work to be successful. They take advantage of all the training they can attend and return home and put it to good use. The continuing support we receive from our citizens is remarkable. We could not do this job without them.” Huntington added,” Our deputies do not do this job because they hate crime and illegal things. They do it because they love the people and our way of life in Emery County.”