Drug crackdown leads to 200 indictments
The Wednesday crackdown filled the Campbell County Jail as more than 200 indictments were issued by a grand jury for 144 suspects following a yearlong investigation.
“We’ve put a dent in drug trafficking today,” Sheriff Ron McClellan said.
Authorities said not all of the suspects were connected.
Most suspects were from Campbell County, but 17 were from other states. Narcotics detectives were interviewing many suspects, hoping to make more arrests.
The drug arrests were made following undercover work that netted controlled buys of methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and prescription medicines, authorities said.
To make all the arrests, sheriff’s deputies, state troopers and officers from every municipal department in the county joined agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Police said the arrests uncovered methamphetamine labs, and in some cases, children living in the same houses as the drug-making operations.
David Webber, a narcotics detective with the sheriff’s office, said meth seems to be supplanting prescription narcotics, especially OxyContin, as the most popular drug in the area because it is far cheaper than buying illicit painkillers.
In a separate drug bust in the Athens area, law enforcement officers in McMinn and Rhea counties arrested four people on methamphetamine charges. Athens is located about 50 miles northeast of Chattanooga.
Police said the arrests followed raids on meth labs.
Jacksboro is located about 30 miles northwest of Knoxville.