A Williams County, Ohio, village with fewer than 1,500 residents might seem like an unlikely hub for a high-grade marijuana operation reaching to Houston.

But the Multi Area Narcotics Unit in northwest Ohio announced Thursday that Stryker is indeed the distribution center for pot operations in Williams, Putman and Defiance counties, and that seven northwest Ohio residents were arrested.

The drug unit has been investigating the operation for months, it said in a statement, sending officers to Houston last week to work with local, state and federal authorities.

Police seized 40 pounds of marijuana, a large amount of cash and several guns, the unit said. A Houston resident was arrested.

Then the officers returned to Ohio, where the following seven people were arrested on charges of dealing marijuana and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, the statement said. Their cases will be presented to a Williams County grand jury later this month:

• Brandon Taylor, 26, of Stryker;
• Carl Blankenship, 37, of Stryker;
• Matthew Randolph, 35, of Stryker.;
• Lon W. Miller, 61, of the Defiance area;
• Angela Saman, 45, of the Defiance area;
• Darissa Mann, 20, of Sherwood; and
• Sean Oehler, 34, of the Defiance area.

Additional arrests and charges are pending, the narcotics unit said.

The unit was assisted by the Williams County prosecutor; the Williams County Sheriff’s Department; the Bryan, Stryker and West Unity police departments; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the FBI; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.