Police dog aids in Vancouver narcotics bust

Three Vancouver residents were arrested Thursday in connection with a months-long drug investigation.

The drug bust was at a house across the street from the Vancouver Police Department’s East Precinct and next door to an early childhood education center.

Around 2 p.m. Thursday, detectives with the Clark-Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force served a pair of search warrants at 15310 S.E. Eighth St., which is next to Children’s Village Day School.

Detectives seized 11¼ pounds of suspected heroin valued at $250,000, more than $51,000 in cash and three vehicles suspected of facilitating heroin transactions throughout Clark County.

Police canine Piper located the suspected heroin in one of the vehicles, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said. The 38-pound black Labrador joined the task force in November 2015 and has been “instrumental in locating illegal narcotics in numerous drug investigations,” the sheriff’s office said.

Vancouver residents Luis Armando Morales-Garcia, 31; Jose Carlos Vega-Rivera, 30; and Karen Moreno-Arrelanas, 23, were arrested during the seizure on suspicion of possessing a control substance with the intent to deliver, according to the sheriff’s office. All three were booked into the Clark County Jail.