The Associated Press
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi Gulf Coast law enforcement officer has received federal recognition for making the largest methamphetamine busts on the nation’s highways in 2001.
Lt. Tony Sauro of the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department will be honored this week in Atlanta by the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Department of Justice.
“He’s one of the best in this country at what he does,” said Harrison County Sheriff George Payne.
The award-winning $2.2 million bust came last October after Sauro stopped a 1991 Jaguar with no license tag. Sauro became suspicious of the couple in the car, who consented to a search.
He found 53 pounds of methamphetamine hidden under the rocker panels on both sides of the vehicle.
“It’s amazing that people agree to a search about 99 percent of the time, maybe because they figure if they agree, you won’t bother to look,” said Sauro.
Sauro often trains police officers across the nation and in Canada in the techniques of criminal interdiction, which he describes as detecting suspicious activity in any kind of situation.
Sauro said he considers the award an honor, but his greatest satisfaction comes from being “the proud father of a 7-year-old and 5-year-old, and taking a rookie officer and teaching him everything I know.”