The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office made Beaufort County’s largest meth bust yet on July 29.

Along was 1.5 pounds of marijuana and $1,673 in U.S. currency, investigators with the sheriff’s office narcotics unit seized 1.6 pounds of methampethamine during a search of a Washington residence.

Daniel Salinas Lopez, 35, of Walton Lane, was charged with trafficking in meth, possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Lt. Russell Davenport, head of the drug unit, said that the street value of the drugs is approximately $80,000 — with 1 gram of meth going for $100-$125 and the grade of marijuana selling for $100 an ounce.

Davenport said the three-month-long investigation came about through other low-level traffickers the unit has been investigating.

“That pretty much led us to the upper-level traffickers,” Davenport said.

Davenport said the meth was imported from Mexico, where the sale of pseudoephedrine—the primary ingredient in meth—is not limited, so it can be made in much larger quantities.

“That’s the whole purpose for having the limits on pseudoephedrine, so you don’t have super labs that make a lot of pounds of meth,” Davenport said.

Sheriff Ernie Coleman said this type of case is a prime example of how important it is for the county to continue providing “buy money” for the drug unit’s use in purchasing drugs to make cases. The county budgets $70,000 each year specifically for the purpose and Coleman said the money eventually makes its way back through seizure payouts and court fines, as well as through the knowledge that drugs are taken out of circulation.

“We get $70,000 in buy money a year and we just took $80,000 of drugs off the streets,” Davenport said.

“This case is a perfect example of the type of cases that the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office consistently makes. The primary mission of our Narcotics Investigation Division is to lead the charge against drug traffickers in Beaufort County,” Coleman stated in a press release. “The efforts of my deputies help assure that Beaufort County is as safe of a place as it can be, not just from drug dealers, but by deterring other criminal activity that goes along with drug trafficking, things like shootings, home invasions and a host of other incidents that occur more regularly in other counties.”

Lopez was confined in the Beaufort County Detention Center under a $100,000 secured bond.