Massive Anti-Meth Sweep Across Tulsa Nets 20+ Arrests

A combined effort by a number of Tulsa-area law enforcement agencies shut down what officials are calling a large drug network supplying Mexican-sourced methamphetamine into Tulsa.

The raid sweep began well before dawn on Friday, April 5, and involved agents with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, Tulsa police officers, Tulsa County sheriff's deputies, U.S. Marshals and representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Tulsa County D.A.'s Office.

They served 47 arrest warrants for trafficking in significant quantities of methamphetamine.

This investigation started eight months ago and ended Friday with teams fanning out across the city with arrest warrants.

The pseudoephedrine law passed in Oklahoma a few years ago has done little to help the problem in the Tulsa area, partly because it's being brought in from Mexico - up to 25 pounds a week. Agents hope Friday's raid will put a big dent in that.

Agents say it took a long time to infiltrate the organization, because they are tight and don't trust outsiders, but they say the 47 arrest warrants will bring down low-level street dealers, middlemen and even top players.

"This more of a dismantling of a whole organization, not simply just making a drug arrest," said an undercover OBN agent.

Agents say the organization they crippled has ties to the Mexican cartel.

These law enforcement officers agree, meth has probably caused more damage to our state than anything in our history, because of the robberies, home break-ins and shootings that go hand-in-hand with it.

"These meth users and distributors are also committing other crimes. They're violent people, they're people that are very unpredictable. These are the folks that we do not need in our society," said OBN Director Darrell Weaver.

Federal prosecutors indicted nine of the 47 people for federal crimes, because of the sheer volume of drugs involved. The rest will be charged in state court.

They say meth distributors think nothing of using torture and murder to protect their multi-million dollar business, even in the streets of Green Country.

"We've determined that we've got to be as aggressive as they are at making money, and putting them off the street," said U.S. Attorney Danny Williams.

Agents say this organization has brought in 260 pounds of meth in the past four years, with a street value of around $14 million. They say the drugs they stopped Friday would've served hundreds and hundreds of people in the Tulsa area.