Drug Task Force Raids 13 Locations

Thu., May 4, 2000

By Bill Morlin billm@spokesman.com

A drug task force backed by 150 federal, state and local police officers simultaneously raided 13 locations Wednesday in Spokane, authorities said.

Eleven people were arrested and booked on state drug charges, Justice Department officials said.

Drugs and cash were also seized during the raids, the officials said.

The raids targeted homes in Spokane County where marijuana was being grown and stored as part of a large conspiracy, they said.

Other details, including the suspects’ name and locations of the raids, weren’t immediately available from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Names of those arrested and further details are expected to be released today.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, the Spokane Police Department and the Washington State Patrol assisted DEA agents in the raids.

The raids and subsequent searches lasted most of the day, and a news blackout was in place.

Thomas P. O’Brien, a DEA press spokesman from Seattle, was flown to Spokane to coordinate media releases about the raids.

“They are being carried out as the result of a 13-month investigation,” O’Brien said.

Those arrested were booked into jail on state drug charges, but federal indictments could follow, O’Brien said.

He said 150 officers gathered at 5 a.m. for a briefing before the 6 a.m. raids.

Those initial raids were believed to have led investigators to secondary locations, but O’Brien said he couldn’t immediately provide details.

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