Undercover Sting Nets 27 Drug Arrests In McAlester Area

NewsOn6.com

PITTSBURGH COUNTY -- A three-month undercover narcotics sting resulted in a total of 27 arrests involving the distribution of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs in eastern Oklahoma.

The arrests took place early Wednesday in the McAlester area in Pittsburgh County, according to a release from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

OBN Spokesman Mark Woodward said nearly 100 agents and officers from several departments fanned out around 6:30 Wednesday morning armed with arrest warrants for 44 defendants in McAlester and other areas of Pittsburg County accused of selling drugs to undercover OBN agents.

The 27 suspects were in custody as of 11 a.m. Wednesday. 

Bureau Director Darrell Weaver says this investigation is part of the agency's commitment to working in eastern Oklahoma.

"There is simply no place in our communities for the destruction which drug violators bring," Weaver said. "It destroys everything good we want for our state and I refuse to concede any inch of our state to drug offenders.  We simply have too much at stake."

Narcotics Bureau agents will host public forum to further discuss drug enforcement, prevention, and treatment issues within the communities and the schools.

The Town Hall Meeting on Crime and Substance Abuse is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 15 at the McAlester Expo Center, 4500 West state Highway 270.

Assisting with the arrests Wednesday morning included OBN, Pittsburgh County Sheriff's Department, McAlester Police Department, the U.S. Marshal's Service and the Pittsburgh County District Attorney's Office.