News Online

Admitted meth dealer bound over for trial

An admitted methamphetamine dealer was held over for trial at his preliminary hearing on Tuesday, July 15. An investigator with District 6 Narcotics Task Force testified that investigators worked with an unidentified, female confidential informer, who allegedly purchased methamphetamine from the defendant several times at the Garcia meat processing plant while carrying concealed audio and video equipment.

(Source: The Express-Star, Chickasha, Oklahoma, Published: July 16, 2008)

Lee Co. Narcotics Task Force reports arrest of ISP employee

An Iowa State Penitentiary food service worker has been arrested as a key part of a ring to smuggle drugs into the facility. The Lee County Narcotics Task Force reported the arrest a Madison City man on felony drug charges.

(Source: Fort Madison Daily Democrat, Fort Madison, Iowa, Published: July 14, 2008)

Drugs, $60k Seized At Business & Home

An investigation into the alleged sale of ecstasy pills resulted in the arrest of two men Wednesday and the seizure of guns, pills and more than $60,000 in cash at a business and at a house. Tri-County Drug Task Force Sgt. Yohance Brunson said agents also seized computer equipment, duplicating towers, and a large quantity of blank and pirated CDs and DVDs when they served a warrant.

(Source: Pine Bluff Commercial, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Published: July 11, 2008)

Joint investigation leads to eight arrests

Several months of undercover narcotics investigations targeting major drug dealers and crack houses resulted in the recent arrests of eight people and seizure of drugs by the Natchitoches Multijurisdictional Drug Task Force.

(Source: Shreveporttimes.com, Shreveport, Louisiana, Published: June 27, 2008)

Indictment Targets Members of Violent Drew Street Gang in Northeast Los Angeles

Seventy members and associates of the Drew Street Clique of the Avenues gang have been named in a federal racketeering indictment unsealed this morning. The indictment alleges a long series of narcotics-related offenses and violent crimes, including murder, attacks against police officers, witness intimidation and extortion of local businesses--charges that could bring prison sentences of life without parole for some of the gang members. The indictment caps an investigation conducted by the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA) in conjunction with the Los Angeles Police Department; the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF); and numerous local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.

(Source: United States Attorney's Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles, California, Published: June 25, 2008)

Gang leader gets 112 years in prison

A prison gang leader was given a 112-year sentence today for a criminal conspiracy that included distribution of drugs, assault, and witness tampering, according to the Denver District Attorney's office.

(Source: Denver Post, Denver, Colorado, Published: June 23, 2008)

Austin resident among 6 sentenced for meth sales

An Austin resident was among six people sentenced in U.S. District Court for convictions stemming from a methamphetamine distribution operation in southern Minnesota. The case resulted from investigations by the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Southeast Minnesota Narcotics Task Force and Austin and Rochester police departments.

(Source: Austin Daily Herald, Austin, Minnesota, Published: June 20, 2008)

Suspect threw cocaine-laced water at officers

A Rosendale man was arrested after police say he tried to hide his cocaine by pouring it into a large bottle of water, and then threw the water on law enforcement officials as they were trying to arrest him.

(Source: Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie, New York, Published: June 13, 2008)

10,000 marijuana plants seized in lower Yakima Valley

On the heels of a warning about increasing marijuana production in Washington state, a lower Yakima Valley farmer preparing a cornfield has been credited with the discovery of more than 10,000 young pot plants. Agents from Law Enforcement Against Drugs, a regional task force, removed the recently planted marijuana Thursday from a field about seven miles east of Zillah.

(Source: The Seattle Times, Seattle, Washington, Published: May 23, 2008)

Authorities Struggle to Combat Surge in Ohio Heroin Cases

Authorities are barely keeping up with a surge in the amount of heroin flowing into the Columbus area, the government's top anti-drug agent for Ohio said Tuesday.

(Source: Herald Dispatch.com, Huntington, West Virginia, Published: May 20, 2008)

Coast Guard Creates New Position to Help Combat Import of Drugs

An important new tool will help the Coast Guard deep-six illegal drugs coming through New York Harbor. Officials today established the position of a counter-drug analyst at Coast Guard Sector New York in the Fort Wadsworth section of Staten Island, during a ceremony at the Joint Forces Headquarters outside of Albany.

(Source: Staten Island Advance (Staten Island Today), New York, Published: May 14, 2008)

Dozens Arrested in Three-Day 'Operation Spring Cleaning'

In December 2007 and continuing until the first week of May 2008, Vice Narcotics Detectives began making numerous purchases of controlled dangerous substances using various means. Traffickers were identified through the course of investigation and citizen complaints were received. The objective of this weekend's three-day proactive law enforcement effort "Operation Spring Cleaning" was to utilize multiple resources, manpower and tactics to enforce violations that contribute to neighborhood decay, reports St. Mary's Sheriff Lt. Daniel Alioto, commander of the BCI Vice-Narcotics Division.

(Source: The BayNet.com, California, Maryland, Published: May 12, 2008)

Mexican Drug Cartels Making Audacious Pitch for Recruits

It was printed on a 16-foot-wide banner and strung above one of the busiest roads here, calling out to any "soldier or ex-soldier." "We're offering you a good salary, food and medical care for your families," it said in block letters. But there was a catch: The employer was Los Zetas, a notorious Gulf cartel hit squad formed by elite Mexican army deserters. Outrageous as they seem, drug cartel messages such as the banner hung here late last month are becoming increasingly common along the violence-savaged U.S.-Mexico border and in other parts of the region.

(Source: The Washington Post (WashingtonPost.com), Washington, DC, Published: May 7, 2008)

Operation Tienda Hielo Nets 52 Arrests, More Than 100 Pounds of Methamphetamine

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), along with the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and numerous other federal, state, and local officials were on hand today in Little Rock to highlight the results of a three-year joint drug trafficking investigation operationally dubbed "Tienda Hielo" or "Ice Store." The investigation, which primarily focused on methamphetamine trafficking in the Batesville, Arkansas area, was initiated by local DEA agents and the 16th Judicial District Drug Task Force in mid-2005.

(Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Little Rock, Arkansas, Published: April 17, 2008)

Another ''Zero Tolerance'' Crackdown Yields Results in Birmingham

Birmingham police conducted another "Zero Tolerance" crackdown, resulting in 66 arrests.

(Source: My FOX Bimingham-FOX 6, Birmingham, Alabama, Published: April 17, 2008)

Operation Ghost Rider Rids Rockland Co. of Violent Drug Traffickers

The DEA arrested 24 individuals as part of Operation Ghost Rider, an eight-month investigation that uncovered a violent drug trafficking enterprise operating throughout Rockland County, New York. Operation Ghost Rider began in August 2007 and was initiated by the Rockland County Narcotics Task Force (RCNTF). Information was gleaned that led to the identification of a narcotics trafficking organization known as the "Building Three Crew." As a response, the Task Force conducted street buys and surveillances, which led to securing eavesdropping warrants.

(Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Rockland County, New York, Published: April 10, 2008)

Agents Break Up North Bay Meth Ring, Lab

California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced Thursday that Department of Justice agents arrested eight suspects Wednesday in connection with a Santa Rosa drug distribution ring and methamphetamine laboratory in the town of Winton, in the Central Valley. State agents also confiscated methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, hash, guns and money.

(Source: NBC11.com, San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California, Published: March 13, 2008)

Operation Byrne Blitz' Nets 565 Arrests, 23 Meth Labs

Kentucky State Police and other law enforcement agencies throughout the Commonwealth discovered 23 meth labs, seized more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana, identified 16 drug endangered children and arrested 565 individuals in connection with illegal drug use in a 24-hour period. During "Operation Byrne Blitz," which took place Wednesday, state police and highway patrol agencies, local police and sheriff's departments, and drug task forces throughout the country conducted undercover investigations, marijuana eradication efforts and drug interdiction activities.

(Source: KYPost.com, Kentucky, Published: March 10, 2008)

Four-Year Investigation Pays Off for Task Force

Beginning in 2004 agents with the Vernon Parish Narcotics Task Force began investigating a drug ring suspected of bringing in large amounts of cocaine to the Leesville area.

(Source: Leesville Daily Leader, Leesville, Louisiana, Published: March 5, 2008)