25 News shared a story in March when the McLennan County Sheriff's Office joined Operation Lone Star to help fight drug and human trafficking.
Reporter Lauren Adams checked back in with Sheriff Parnell McNamara to see how the effort is going.
Astor is a 3-year-old, all black, full German Shepherd K-9 from Poland, and Pegi is a 3-year-old full blooded German Shepherd, also from Poland.
They are two of the four K-9’s that McLennan County has to fight drug and human trafficking up and down the interstate.
They're beefing up K-9 patrols as part of Operation Lone Star, which is Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiative to stop illegal immigration at the border.
Sheriff McNamara says a lot of the drugs are heading to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex using I-35 right through Central Texas.
"We have an open border thanks to this administration up north," Sheriff Parnell McNamara said.
"Drugs are coming across every day — especially fentanyl.”
McLennan County will be using the K-9’s more to stop criminal activity.
Three of the dogs are used for narcotic detection, and one is an explosive detection K-9.
"We’re going to be stepping up patrols on the interstate — we have major thoroughfares to monitor and criminal organizations and will also use one of the many alternate routes through Central Texas," said Lt. Jeremy Bost with the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff McNamara says a big part of Operation Lone Star involvement is communicating with other agencies in the state including other sheriff’s departments and DPS.
“We have a criminal intel division that information is sent into and disseminated out to other agencies," he said.
While Central Texas be seeing more of Astor and Pegi, the sheriff has a message for anyone involved in illegal trafficking.
"We’re going to keep the heat on them, and won’t let up on them," McNamara said.
