FAYETTE COUNTY, Texas — Fayette County Sgt. Randy Thumann said 2021 has been his busiest year, and it's only May.
"We've probably had roughly around 16 or 17 seizures already," said Sgt. Thumann. "I'm talking about large cartel-type seizures. And it's still early in the year."
Sgt. Thumann works with his K-9, Kolt, and said they typically find "kilos, kilos of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl."
Lt. David Beyer added that the pair have also seized large sums of money and guns.
"We’re seeing basically the same stuff we’ve always seen, just a lot more," said Lt. Beyer. "Once a week, sometimes twice a week."
After a car is stopped, Kolt's job is to sniff out if there are any drugs. If so, then it's on Sgt. Thumann to find where they are. He said, oftentimes, actually finding the compartments where the drugs are hidden is the challenging part.
"Because there's no telling where it could be. The traps and compartments are so elaborate and so well hidden that it's a great reward when you finally get to find something that's so deep concealed," said Sgt. Thumann.
By "elaborate," he explained that some of the compartments are hidden under floorboards or open by knowing a correct sequence of buttons in the car to hit.
Sgt. Thumann and Lt. Beyer said the highways patrolled are a main access point for illegal narcotics to come through Fayette County.
"We have Interstate 10, which is a major drug corridor from Mexico to big hubs throughout the country," said Sgt. Thumann.
Lt. Beyer, agreed, saying Fayette County isn't just a place the drugs are passing through.
"Whatever is coming through here is probably ending back up here, just in smaller quantities, and that’s what [Sgt. Thumann] is trying to prevent," said Lt. Beyer,
Sgt. Thumann said he knows he can't stop everything coming through their area, but he's proud of what he and Kolt have accomplished thus far, knowing their work is needed.
"This stuff's pouring in unchallenged," Sgt. Thumann said. "Some of the departments that I know that are going through police defunding, the first things to go are the canines in the interdictions and things of that sort. So, basically, it's unchallenged until it makes it to the hub."
Sgt. Thumann said his goal is to stop it before the drugs get into the communities, which is why he and Kolt train a few times a week.
"We just try to do training at least two or three times a week, specifically for the vehicle. That's kind of our bread and butter," said Sgt. Thumann. "So I just try to make the hides as realistic as I can, using vehicles and placing the odor in the places that the compartments or traps are usually located inside the vehicles. I'll run some blank vehicles just to make sure he's true and not cheating. And then I usually put three or four hides out in different places."
While Kolt is usually the one making headlines, Lt. Beyer said the credit goes to Sgt. Thumann.
"Kolt gets a lot of credit for what goes on, and he’s a tremendous dog," said Lt. Beyer. "But it really falls back on Sgt. Thumann, the training he puts in, they’re training every day."
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