Ralston Washington Boyd, 55,10 pounds of heroin — valued at about $7 million during a traffic stop Monday morning

Officers discovered some 10 pounds of heroin — valued at about $7 million during a traffic stop Monday morning, just hours after the operation began.The next day, a fugitive wanted in two other states started a high-speed chase followed by the lockdown of four Florence schools and a three-day manhunt.Eighty marijuana seizures, nine felony arrests and even a traffic stop that led to the discovery of illegal moonshine kept officers busy for the remainder of the four-day operation.Operation Strike Force is a sheriff’s office initiative that targets drug-related crimes and other illegal activity on Interstates 20 and 95 in Florence County.
“We have over 20 different law enforcement agencies from the local, state and federal levels this year, with over 130 different officers,” Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone said. “(We’ve) had an amazing array of law enforcement resources at our disposal.”
One of the greatest things about the annual effort is the camaraderie and the willingness of different agencies to work together, S.C. Highway Patrol Maj. Melvin Warren said.
A member of the highway patrol’s Aggressive Criminal Enforcement (ACE) team working with the operation made Monday’s heroin seizure — one of the largest in South Carolina history, Warren said.
“It’s not uncommon for them to make large seizures. ACE focuses on drug interdiction and criminal interdiction,” he said. “They have drug dogs and are trained in seeking out compartments in vehicles that transport illegal contraband.”

The heroin was discovered during a traffic stop on northbound I-95 in the back of a vehicle.

“The heroin was in shoe impressions, bras, panty liners and body plates. (It was) like somebody wore it into the country,” Boone said. “It got into the country by boat or by air. It came straight from South America. It’s probably the biggest heroin seizure in South Carolina, according to our research.”

Ralston Washington Boyd, 55, was alone in the vehicle and was arrested in connection with the heroin seizure.He was released into the custody of federal authorities and likely will face federal charges, Boone said.About $250,000 in cocaine was discovered Tuesday during the operation and resulted in the arrests of three people, including Bernard Simpson, the subject of a three-day manhunt and a chase that ended in in the playground of Delmae Heights Elementary School.
Tuesday’s chase lasted several minutes and no one was harmed during the incident, Boone said. A chase can be terminated at any time by the pursuing officer, but that’s up to his or her discretion, he said. The pursuit of suspects can be dangerous, but criminals need to be taken off the streets, Boone said. “We are going to try and take a fleeing felon into custody as safely and as quickly as possible,” he said. “If we need to back off, we will. The public’s safety is most important, but at some point, we have to take these people into custody.”