Mesa Police detectives conducting surveillance on suspected drug dealers searched a vehicle and found five 5.5-foot PVC pipes used to transport and distribute heroin around the valley, police said.

Jorge Gutierez, 24, was booked into jail on numerous drug charges and child endangerment and Cruz Alarcon-Lozano, 24, was booked into jail on drug charges, according to a police report.

During the surveillance, suspect Gutierez was seen leaving the 4000 block of East Contessa in Mesa in the late afternoon of Sept. 13 in a vehicle, police said. Detectives began following him and made a stop for a traffic violation. During the stop, detectives were given consent to search the vehicle and located the five PVC tubes with capped ends. The content of the tubes was checked and confirmed to be heroin, police said.

At the time of the stop Mr. Gutierez had his four-month-old daughter in a car seat in the back seat along with the drugs. Mr. Gutierez was taken into custody at that time, police said. The mother of the infant responded and took custody of the child.

At approximately the same time, a second vehicle was seen leaving the Contessa address, police said. Detectives followed and eventually watched as the driver, Mr. Lozano, stopped in front of a vacant residence and threw a PVC tube into the bushes, police said.

The tube was retrieved and the content was confirmed to be heroin, police said. A traffic stop was made and Mr. Lozano was taken into custody.

The combined amount of heroin from the two stops was 10.2 pounds.

During a search warrant related to the stops, an additional four pounds of Methamphetamine was recovered.

The total street value of the drugs was estimated at $425,000, according to Mesa police.