Though drug unit investigators had obtained an arrest warrant for a Pantego man, it was Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office patrol deputies who arrested James Edward Ross on April 14, said a spokesman for the drug unit.

“It wasn’t a drug unit operation,” the spokesman said. “There are some good deputies with a good nose when it comes to interdiction cases.”

Ross, 67, of Swamp Road in Pantego, was charged with level I trafficking in opiates by possession and held at the Beaufort County Detention Center under a $5,000 secured bond.

According to the release, the controlled buys made by drug unit investigators were of opiate-based prescription pain medication, but at the time of his arrest, Ross was out on bond for possession of heroin charges.