SPOKANE, Wash --- 18 arrested in drug busts spanning Washington and Idaho, as a result of a two year drug investigation.
The Spokane Regional Safe Streets Task Force and partners coordinated 15 arrest and search operations this week throughout Spokane, Yakima and Idaho. They arrested 18 of the 22 subjects implicated in an alleged significant drug-trafficking enterprise, according to an SPD press release. They will face an array of charges for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, said SPD.
"If they're going to traffic drugs in Spokane, we're going to catch you, we're going to prosecute you," said Spokane County Sheriff, Ozzie Knezovich.
At a press conference on Thursday they said they found several drugs, 20 guns and $700,000 in cash in the search and arrests this week.
The Spokane Regional Safe Streets Task Force is composed of the FBI, the Spokane Police Department, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, the Spokane Valley Police Department, the Washington State Patrol, the United States Border Patrol, the Washington State Department of Corrections and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The United Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration were also integrally involved in the enforcement action. Thursday’s operations in Idaho were carried out by the FBI’s North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force, according to the press release.
"All those organizations work on a daily basis on the task force to help keep gang activity and drug activity at bay," said the task force commander, Captain John Knowles.
Since the task force started in 2006, large scale operations and arrests like this happen every year and a half to two years, the authorities reported.