A man was arrested after a police K9 helped investigators discover illegal drugs he allegedly stored inside his former Fall River home last week.

 

In 2018, Justin Russell was arrested following a drug bust at his Howland Street home, according to police. He later pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking and firearm-related charges in Superior Court, for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

 

Then on July 24, a Fall River detective assigned to the FBI Metro Boston Gang Task Force learned Russell had been keeping a “significant quantity” of illegal narcotics at the same residence.

 

Police obtained a warrant to search the property, which they now described as vacant, uninhabitable and without electricity or running water.

 

About an hour into the search, Fall River police K9 Marta entered a dirt crawl space under the back of the house, where she alerted investigators to more than one kilogram of suspected cocaine and a loaded gun.

 

While Russell was not inside during the search, police said they located and arrested him in New Bedford on separate charges later that day.