A new unit made up of seven north Texas counties is helping catch criminals trafficking drugs and young girls up and down the state's major highways.

Back when Grayson County sheriff tom watt had just been elected he met with the new Collin County sheriff, and the two corralled five other sheriffs to combat crime across county lines.

"I got with Sheriff Watt, and we talked about doing this all the way to the red river," said Collin County sheriff Jim Skinner. "We thoughy about calling other sheriffs together."

Skinner got together seven counties: Grayson, Hunt, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, and Wise to create the North Texas Criminal Interdiction Unit.

"To use specialized people for a specialized job," Skinner explained.

The sheriffs thought they could stem the flow of illegal drugs and human trafficking victims being taken on major Texas highways, like U.S. Highway 75.

"There's more traffic coming out of Dallas going into Oklahoma on 75 than 35," said Grayson County Sheriff Tom Watt. "The cartels try and move their product as cheaply as they can."

The unit makes an agreement that any deputies in the seven counties can make arrests in any participating county.

Since starting in December, they've seized thousands of dollars in hidden currency, 61 pounds of meth, about 1500 pounds of weed and more drugs including cocaine and heroin. They also rescued a missing child along with arresting two murder fugitives.

The unit is the first of its kind in U.S.; they have no federal funding but say the end results are worth it.

"The president made it very clear this is a national problem," Skinner said. "And we've all got to be willing to jump in and deal with this."

The sheriffs said they would like to see more counties get involved across north Texas.