Roughly 30 pounds of suspected methamphetamine and 4.5 pounds of fentanyl were seized in one of two Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement Task Force drug investigations last week.

Narcotics officers with the Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement Task Force say they took off the streets nearly 50 pounds of suspected methamphetamine and more than 4 pounds of the synthetic opioid fentanyl last week in a pair of drug investigations, including one that turned up 17 pounds of crystal meth stashed in a speaker box.

The first of the two unrelated drug busts occurred Aug. 6, when detectives and investigators with the multiagency drug task force say they found 32 pounds of a substance suspected to be meth and 4.5 pounds of fentanyl inside a vehicle seized during a traffic stop along Interstate 5, according to a release issued by Medford police.

Citing a still-ongoing investigation, the release does not name a suspect or provide details about the probable cause that prompted the search of the vehicle.

More information is available on MADGE’s second drug arrest and seizure that week, in which a suspect identified as Pascual R. Padilla, 48, of Canoga Park, California, was arrested on charges of manufacturing, delivering and possessing methamphetamine after a Medford police K-9 sniffed out roughly 17 pounds of meth from a vehicle the evening of Aug. 8.

According to an affidavit filed in Jackson County Circuit Court by a MADGE detective in Padilla’s case, police had received information that suspects from California were trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine to the Medford area.

When police made contact with a suspect vehicle, Padilla and three other subjects were standing near it in the 1300 block of Center Drive.

During the search, a Medford police K-9 flagged a large gray speaker box. Police obtained a search warrant the following day, and found hidden behind a 15-inch speaker five bags of a crystalline substance that weighed 17 pounds and field-tested positive for meth.

Padilla was booked in Jackson County Jail Thursday and released Tuesday after posting $15,000 bond on $150,000 bail. He forfeits his bond if he failed to comply with release conditions such as pretrial monitoring and not possessing any alcohol, controlled substances or cannabis.

A grand jury Wednesday indicted Padilla on the felony counts of manufacturing, delivering and possessing meth. The indictment also identifies a second suspect; however, charges had yet to be filed in the related case as of Wednesday evening.

Padilla’s next court appearance is an arraignment scheduled for Sept. 17.