(MENA) Federal and State cooperation among ten member organizations has netted fifteen people involved in a drug operation, named Operation Mad Hatter.
The investigation, run by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, has resulted in the arrest of several drug traffickers and the seizure of 17 kilograms of Methamphetamine, 4 kilograms of Cocaine, 249 grams of Crack Cocaine, over 1 kilogram of Heroin, over 200 diverted prescription pills, over $107,000 in assets and numerous firearms, according to officials at a press conference held Monday in Little Rock..
Operation Mad Hatter was a joint investigation between the DEA – Little Rock District Office, United States Postal Inspection Service, Pine Bluff Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff’s office, Arkansas State Police, Arkansas Community Corrections, Pulaski County Sheriff’s office, Benton Police Department, Little Rock Police Department and the Arkansas National Guard Counterdrug Program.
DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Justin King said that “Much of that Heroin contains Fentanyl,”
Five people were arrested Monday morning after the unsealing of an indictment of 19 individuals who were charged by a federal grand jury on Aug. 7, 2019. Officials said 10 people had already been arrested throughout the investigation and law enforcement has made contact with the remaining four defendants, completing this phase of the operation. The operation was part of an ongoing DEA Domestic Cartel Initiative investigation.
“The investigation began in 2018 and the first arrests were made in February of 2019,” said Cody Hiland, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Chico Jahoney Russell, also known as “Supreme”, and Terrance Deandre Jackson were named as the heads of the central Arkansas drug organization, he said.
“For what they ran here in Arkansas they were the ones in charge here, but they were getting their drugs from bigger organizations outside of the state and eventually to cartels in Mexico that supply these drugs,” King said.
The violent drug trafficking operation was mainly located in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, but the group was making attempts to expand beyond Central Arkansas, according to officials.
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Jeri Pearson
Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.
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