A new government report shows a surge in the use by authorities of wiretaps last year in Kansas for drug investigations.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts issued its annual report to Congress Wednesday. It reports that the number of wiretaps nationwide decreased slightly in 2014 compared to the previous year. But in Kansas, federal judges last year authorized 29 wiretaps, compared to just five a year earlier.

The Kansas number is also higher when compared against previous reports dating at least as far back as 2009.

All the wiretaps approved last year in Kansas involved narcotics cases.

In addition to the 29 wiretaps approved by federal judges here, the report shows that three other wiretaps were authorized last year by state judges in Finney and Saline counties.