Early this Wednesday morning, Maryland State Police apprehended a Prince George’s County man on multiple charges after a routine traffic stop in Howard County escalated into a drug and firearms bust. The man, identified as 47-year-old Otha Samuel from Lanham, Maryland, was stopped for driving a Ford Taurus with an inoperable brake light, which then led to a deeper investigation, uncovering more serious violations, according to the Maryland State Police report.
The incident occurred in the 7300 block of Washington Boulevard shortly after 8 a.m. The standard traffic stop turned into a full-fledged narcotics and weapons case after troopers noted numerous criminal indicators and deployed a K-9 unit to conduct a scan of the vehicle. The use of a trained police dog resulted in a positive alert which culminated in a search that yielded 483 packets of suboxone and a loaded nine-millimeter handgun.
Samuel, who has a prior felony conviction, now faces charges that include possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute, and firearm possession by a convicted felon among other firearm-related offenses. Following the discovery, he was taken to the Maryland State Police Waterloo Barrack for processing and is presently waiting for transfer to the Howard County Detention Center.
