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ROCKFORD, N.D. (NewsDakota.com.) – The sheriff of North Dakota’s smallest county says the results of a stepped up drug interdiction campaign has surprised him.

Eddy County Sheriff Paul Lies, says in the past month, his deputies have made traffic stops resulting in 14 drug arrests and the seizure of a considerable amount of marijuana along with some meth.

Lies believes the heightened focus on drug trafficker’s resulted in someone ditching a garbage bag full of marijuana worth about $12,000 on a road near New Rockford. A farmer, thinking it was litter, picked up bag and discovered the pot.

Based on information from the interdiction stops, deputies served search warrants on two homes in New Rockford that turned up 4 pounds of marijuana, $22,000 in cash and several additional arrests.

Lies says the Spirit Lake Reservation, which covers part of Eddy County, is a destination point for many drug dealers.

Lies was a longtime investigator for the Fargo Police Department before he was elected Eddy County Sheriff.