The keen senses of a cross-trained K9 led to the discovery of approximately 80,000 pills believed to be tainted with fentanyl in Ripon on Thursday.

According to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, deputies conducted a traffic stop at around 2 p.m. near the intersection of Jack Tone and River Roads. They stopped a silver BMW for driving without a front license plate.

It was the nose of K9 “Rango” – cross-trained in both apprehension and narcotics detection – that alerted officers to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle. A deeper search revealed multiple bags of blue pills stamped to resemble popular pharmaceutical drugs often diverted for illicit use.

The presence of fentanyl in the pills – which is many times stronger than the active ingredient in the pills that the cache was masquerading as – likely means that the discovery saved lives.

 Fentanyl overdose deaths have been on the rise across the United States ever since the super-strong opiate started appearing in common street drugs and even in pills marked to look like commonly abused pharmaceuticals.

The driver and lone occupant of the vehicle, 37-year-old Alejandro Leon Rodriguez, was arrested and booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on multiple narcotics-related felonies.

This is the second bust of its kind that has occurred in Ripon since October when sheriff’s office deputies found more than 20,000 illicit fentanyl pills that were hidden inside of hair gel containers. That bust was approximately one-quarter the size of the one made on Thursday.

Ripon’s location along the Highway 99 corridor and near highway routes that lead to the Bay Area likely means that traffickers moving drugs into the country and through California likely pass through the city frequently.

 Both busts that have occurred over the last six months have taken place near Highway 99 or businesses that cater to traffic passing by on it.

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.