A major heroine bust took place in Murfreesboro. The investigation involved both the Murfreesboro Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. A total of 5 kilograms of heroin was recovered.

Murfreesboro Police Sgt. Kyle Evans told WGNS the names of the two women who were arrested in Murfreesboro...

Interim Murfreesboro Police Chief Michael Bowen stated...

Mark Gwyn, director of the TBI told WGNS...

Gwyn commented that the heroin would have been used by at least a thousand people or more on the streets if it were not intercepted by police.

The case is expected to go to the Rutherford County General Sessions Court this March.

The Tennessee Department of Mental Health reported in 2015 that heroin use is on the rise. The increase in the use of the illegal drug comes as the state is making it harder and harder to get prescription pain killers.

Suspects:

• 30 Year old Elizabeth Marie Castillo of Thornton, CO.
• 43 Year old Rosalinda Vallejo of Denver, CO.

Seized:

• 2007 Chrysler 300
• Five Kilograms of Heroin

Report from the TBI shows the drugs were going to be distributed in Murfreesboro:

Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Drug Investigation Division joined detectives with the Murfreesboro Police Department and investigators with the DEA Task Force in a joint investigation, resulting in the arrest of two individuals charged with heroin possession.

Beginning in 2015, detectives and Special Agents developed information about a shipment of heroin that was scheduled to be delivered from Denver, Colorado, for distribution in Murfreesboro. Information developed during the course of the investigation led Agents and detectives to a vehicle located in a Murfreesboro hotel parking lot. A search of the vehicle revealed approximately five kilograms of heroin.

On Saturday, January 23rd, Special Agents and detectives arrested Elizabeth Castillo, 30, (below left), and Rosalinda Vallejo, 43, both of Colorado. The two women were each charged with one count of Possession of Heroin for Resale. They were booked into the Rutherford County Jail, where they are each being held on a $1,000,000 bond.

More about Heroin:

Heroin, which is typically injected with a needle, is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, often used illicitly as a narcotic producing euphoria. Those who use heroin face horrific withdrawals when they quit and often switch a prescribed medication called Methadone.

Heroin has a long history that dates back to 1898 when it was manufactured by Bayer pharmaceutical in Germany. At the time, it was marketed as a treatment for tuberculosis and a remedy for morphine addiction.