BUTLER TWP — It started with a tip that led to a motel on Route 8 south for what seemed to be a routine arrest of a wanted township couple.

It ended with the expected arrests but much more.

Inside room 312 at the Super 8 motel, authorities said, county narcotics officers seized hundreds of bags of suspected heroin, ounces of suspected cocaine and thousands of dollars in cash.

The defendants — Carrie R. Nelson, 34, and Shane P. Miller, 26, both felons — were to be arraigned today on felony drug charges stemming from their arrests last week.

Three county probation officers went to the motel Aug. 23 after a tipster informed authorities that the couple was staying there.

The probation office was looking for the pair in connection with unrelated criminal cases.

But once in the room, the officers discovered a stash of drugs and contraband “in plain view,” according to court documents.

Butler County Detective Tim Fennell, supervisor of the Butler County Drug Task Force, was notified.

Fennell led a search of the room that turned up a red backpack under the bed. The pack, he said, contained assorted drugs worth thousands of dollars on the street.

Among the drugs was about 100 grams of powder cocaine in a Ziploc bag, 50 grams of crack cocaine in plastic baggies, numerous stamp bags of heroin, a digital scale and $2,060, documents said.

The search turned up more bags of suspected heroin on the dresser and on Nelson. In all, the task force seized 351 stamp bags of heroin.

Along with the money in the back pack and more in Nelson’s purse, the task force confiscated a total of $2,146.

Nelson and Miller were placed in the Butler County Prison for probation violations.

District Judge Kevin O’Donnell was to arraign both defendants today on their latest charges — three counts each of possession of a controlled substance.

Court records showed Nelson has a pair of felony drug convictions and Miller has a felony conviction for conspiracy to commit burglary.