(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
MOSES LAKE, Wash. -A record amount of heroin, put and guns have been taken off the streets by police in Moses Lake in the past month. Now the department has a problem on its hands: What to do with all of it.
Police say that's actually a good problem to have. But they can't just toss those drugs into a dumpster.
"We've pulled more meth and heroin out in the last month than the city has ever seen by far," said Moses Lake Police Chief Kevin Fuhr.
From Zip-lock bags full of black tar heroin to bags of meth, Moses Lake PD does not mess around when it comes to drugs.
"We have been knocking it out of the park. It started with a traffic stop where an officer found just under eight lbs of methamphetamines."
On October 17, Moses Lake Police made a bust for the ages after a traffic stop resulted in several search warrants. Police found 25 pounds of heroin and meth and 40 pounds of processed pot. They also found ballistic armor and illegal weapons. All with a total street value of $1.2 million. Now all of it needs to be safely handled and eventually destroyed, which is easier said than done.
First, the items require safe handling in a very secure lock-up, in the now-overflowing Moses Lake evidence room until their respective court cases are through.
After that, it's off to Spokane.
"All of our property, whether its marijuana, heroin and meth... whatever it is, everything gets incinerated. We take it to Spokane and it goes through an incinerator."
Our city's Waste to Energy plant is ground zero for drug and gun destruction in the whole of the Pacific Northwest, with police departments from across Washington, Idaho and Oregon making regular deliveries.
In 2015 alone, that incinerator destroyed 123,000 pounds of drugs, pharmaceuticals and guns.
Fuhr says his officers plan to keep that incinerator well stocked in the future.
"The officers are just getting more aggressive. They're working more with the public now and they're getting information that is leading to some of these arrests," he said.