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Police take to sewer to find suspected drugs during Niles raid

NILES, Ohio (WKBN) – Investigators took to the sewer to recover suspected narcotics in Niles.

The Niles Police Special Response Team entered a house early Thursday on the 200 block of Depot Street to serve a search warrant in connection with a narcotics investigation.

Officers found one person inside the house and noticed that the toilet was running. The sewer department was called in to help recover two bags of suspected heroin and crack from the sewer line.

“Once the entry team got inside and started to search, they did hear the toilet running and did indicate that the person they found in the house appeared to have wet hands, immediately suspecting that any of the narcotics that we anticipated being in the house had been flushed,” Marshall said. “They were able to take the manhole cover off that was literally right out in the front of the house in the center of the street and located two bags containing what appeared to be crack cocaine.”

Inside the house, investigators say they found an Uzi-type 9mm gun, cash and other suspected drugs. Everything was sent to the BCI crime lab for analysis.

Marshall said the search was part of a months-long investigation by Niles and Warren into the sale of drugs.

“Hopefully, this will remedy the issue that was going on in the neighborhood because of trafficking out of there,” Marshall said. “We will do what it takes to keep drugs off the street and keep houses from being places where you can buy them in the city.

Criminal charges will be filed following those results, according to police.