On November 18, 2019 at approximately 3:00 pm, while conducting a highway criminal interdiction operation in North Texas, members of the North Texas Sheriff’s Criminal Interdiction Unit (NTXCIU) conducted a traffic stop on a recreational vehicle. While speaking with the driver, an NTXCIU deputy suspected that criminal activity. The driver of the recreational vehicle consented to a search and approximately 976 pounds of marijuana and over 2,000 dosage units of THC concentrate vaping cartridges were discovered. One subject was arrested. The origin of the contraband was California with a final destination of Georgia.
In December 2017, Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner, Grayson County Sheriff Tom Watt, Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks, Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler, Rockwall County Sheriff Harold Eavenson, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn and Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin came together to formulate a plan to help stem the flow of illegal narcotics and human trafficking victims being transported across the open highways and Interstates of North Texas. Concerned about human trafficking and the opioid epidemic that is afflicting the Nation, these Sheriffs agreed to combine their resources and create the North Texas Criminal Interdiction Unit (NTXCIU): a team of specially trained deputy sheriffs whose mission it is to interdict dangerous drugs, narcotics, contraband and human cargo on established smuggling corridors across North Texas. This eight-agency initiative is the first of its kind in Texas and the United States. An integral part of this initiative is the cooperating Sheriff’s agreement that any of the deputies assigned to this unit have jurisdictional authority to operate and make arrests within any of the participating counties.
