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Charges are pending after illegal drugs were discovered in what was initially thought to be a homemade explosive device. The discovery follows an incident that took place early Monday at the Chillicothe Wal-Mart.
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According to a Chillicothe Police report, officers were called to Wal-Mart around 3:30 a.m. Monday on a report of a domestic dispute taking place in the parking lot.
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On arrival at the scene, officers located a male subject that was involved in the incident inside the store. He told the officers he had been involved in a verbal altercation with his girlfriend, who had already left the scene prior to the officers’ arrival.
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However, while interviewing a store employee about the reported argument, the employee informed the officers that the female subject involved in the incident had been yelling for someone to call police because there were drugs hidden underneath the male subject’s vehicle. This caused the officers to locate the man’s vehicle, a white Oldsmobile, that the man had been witnessed sitting in during the argument with the female.
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An officer looked at the vehicle’s undercarriage and observed two foreign objects secured to the undercarriage near the driver’s side door by use of magnets. A K9 Unit was then called to the scene and the dog alerted to the presence of narcotics coming from the vehicle.
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The male subject refused to allow officers to conduct a search of the vehicle so the vehicle was towed to police impound while a search warrant could be obtained. Once the warrant was issued a search of the vehicle was then conducted.
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Officers located four magnets attached to the vehicle’s undercarriage holding in place three small residue-coated pipes. Two other similar pipes were found inside the vehicle, one hidden inside of a cigarette box, the other hidden inside of a box of breakfast pastries. Additionally, a piece of foil with a crystal-like substance was found underneath the vehicle’s front seat.
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The pipes were first thought to be some type of IED (Improvised Explosive Device), as they had black tape around them with what appeared to be batteries attached at the bottom.
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The Columbus Bomb Squad was then called in to assist and a subsequent x-ray of the pipes determined that the pipes were not bombs, but a vessel for the concealment of what would turn out to be 16 grams of heroin, 26 grams of methamphetamine and 5 grams of cocaine.
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Charges against the male subject in the case are pending further investigation and lab analysis.