They were driving with expired registration. Then police dog a smelled something

Two men were arrested over the weekend in Los Banos after police found more than a dozen grams of methamphetamine during a routine traffic stop on Mercey Springs Road, the Police Department reported.

Officers stopped a 1992 BMW sedan around 11:21 a.m. Sunday in the 400 block of Mercey Springs Road for driving with expired registration tags, police said in a news release.

“Maverick,” a Los Banos police dog, “quickly alerted to the presence of narcotics inside of the vehicle,” officers said.

Police found two plastic bags containing a total of about 13.9 grams of suspected methamphetamine, as well as marijuana buds and a methamphetamine pipe, officers said.

Investigators also found an imitation firearm partially spray-painted black.

Police arrested Ernesto Zapata, 45, and Robert Martinez, 41. Police said Martinez tried to hide the methamphetamine and Zapata tried to hide the pipe. Both men were booked into the Merced County Jail on misdemeanor drug allegations and were released a short time later, according to booking records.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 1:16 PM with the headline "They were driving with expired registration. Then police dog a smelled something."