A North Carolina man was arrested Wednesday after state police stopped him on Interstate 95 in Cecil County found 750 wax bags of heroin worth $15,000, authorities said.
Maryland State Police arrested Kerry J. Hampton, 29, of Fayetteville, after troopers pulled him over for an expired tag on the GMC Acadia he was driving. "Further investigation by the trooper led to a scan of the vehicle by a drug detection dog," which indicated the presence of drugs, police said in a statement.
Troopers searched the vehicle and found the 750 individually packaged wax bags ready for street sale inside two packages in the sun roof, police said.
Police said Hampton was alone and was arrested without incident. The stop occurred around 2 p.m. near Route 222.
Hampton is charged with importation of heroin, possession with intent to distribute heroin, and possession of heroin and was held in the Cecil County Detention Center on $150,000 bond.
State police said in the statement that the arrest is part of the agency's ongoing "initiative to combat heroin use and reduce the number of overdoses and deaths caused by this drug."
The number of deaths in Maryland related to heroin has risen in recent years because it has cheaper and easier to find than prescription drugs. The number of heroin-related deaths rose 95 percent from 2010 to 2013.
Cecil County counted 11 fatal overdoses in 2013, making it the highest death rate in the state, officials said. There were 464 overdose deaths in Maryland that year.
In February, Gov. Larry Hogan announced a new plan to combat the growing problem which includes a coordinating council of the agencies involved in tackling the problem and creating a task force that will create policy recommendations.
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