{"id":249078,"date":"2026-04-28T02:44:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/249078\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T02:44:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:44:07","slug":"fake-florida-carwash-exposed-as-drug-hub-with-cocaine-fentanyl-and-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/249078\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake Florida carwash exposed as drug hub with cocaine, fentanyl and guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEESBURG, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Deputies say a fake Florida \u201ccarwash\u201d used as a drug hub was raided, uncovering cocaine, fentanyl, guns, and leading to two arrests.<\/p>\n

The Lake County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a> said its Special Investigations Bureau executed a narcotics search warrant on Thursday at 1645 Veech Road in Leesburg, a location investigators say was operating as a front for drug activity known as \u201cThe Carwash.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities said the property has long been on their radar, including a 2021 homicide investigation that resulted in a murder conviction.<\/p>\n

Around 1 p.m., the Lake County SWAT Team secured the scene before narcotics detectives moved in to search the property.<\/p>\n

See also: West Palm Beach pauses waterfront overhaul after residents voice concerns over impacts<\/a><\/p>\n

Investigators said they found a large amount of drugs, including cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, cannabis, and multi-colored pills initially believed to be ecstasy, but later testing positive for methamphetamine. Deputies also recovered drug paraphernalia and two firearms, one of which had been reported stolen out of Leesburg in October 2025.<\/p>\n

In total, detectives reported seizing about 2 ounces of cocaine, 1.5 ounces of crack cocaine, 14 grams of methamphetamine, 4 grams of fentanyl, 30 suspected MDMA pills, and roughly one pound of cannabis.<\/p>\n

Two people were arrested following the raid.<\/p>\n

Deputies found probable cause to book Dara Ostane with armed trafficking in cocaine, possession of methamphetamine and cannabis with intent to sell, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Deputies said Ostane was recently released from prison after serving more than 22 years for a 1999 Lake County homicide. <\/p>\n

Another suspected trafficker, Steve Roberts, is charged with possession of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cannabis with intent to sell, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of drug paraphernalia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEESBURG, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Deputies say a fake Florida \u201ccarwash\u201d used as a drug hub was raided, uncovering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-249078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}