World News | Sheriff: 85 Arrests in California-Florida Drug Flight Scheme

Bartow, Aug 19 (AP) Eighty-five people have been arrested and millions of dollars in illicit drugs seized in a smuggling operation that used checked bags on commercial flights from California to Florida, investigators said Friday.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference that the drugs were hidden in luggage on flights from Los Angeles to Orlando over a two-year period. One seizure involved six piece of luggage containing nothing but drugs, he said.

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“They didn't even put so much as a pair of underwear in there to hide it,” Judd told reporters.

The 85 arrests involved 355 combined felonies and 93 misdemeanors in a case centered on drug trafficking in the area around Winter Haven, Florida, authorities said.

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Street value of about USD 12.8 million was estimated for the seizures of drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, fentanyl, oxycodone and Xanax. Forty-nine guns and USD 235,000 in cash was also confiscated.

Judd said it was the largest wiretap-related investigation in Polk County history.

“It's anything other than low-level and nonviolent,” the sheriff said. “The whole time they were peddling poison to your kids.”(AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)