Dozens of people across the state are facing charges for distributing drugs after a weeks-long sweep conducted by the Vermont Drug Task Force.
Vermont State Police announced Thursday that the operation had resulted in the arrests of 59 people for allegedly selling and distributing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and crack cocaine.
The arrests include 53 individual charges for selling heroin, 43 charges for selling crack cocaine, and several other charges.
The suspects were located across the state, with 11 in Rutland, 11 in Brattleboro, eight in Newport, six in Bennington, and several others in other Vermont cities and towns. All of the suspects in the sweep were charged with state drug offenses, and are scheduled to appear in court over the next several weeks.
Vermont State Police say the arrests were largely unrelated to one another. The close timing of the arrests is a tactic that police use when making a number of drug-related arrests, they said.
Kevin Lane, the special investigations commander, said the cases in question were largely typical cases for the state’s drug task force.
“Our main focus is with heroin, opiates, and fentanyl,” Lane said. “That’s what’s killing the most Vermonters, that’s where most of our resources are going.”
Lane said the last five years have seen a 1000% increase in fentanyl seizures in Vermont. As recently as 2013, the drug was largely unknown in Vermont, he said. Now, police say, it is common.
“With every bag of heroin we handle, we just assume it has some level of fentanyl in it,” Lane said. “It’s just that prevalent out on the street.”
Police worked with the Vermont Department of Health during the arrests to provide information on treatment and recovery services to suspects who have a drug dependency. Lane said they provided pamphlets and information about counseling.
Lane said the task force learns about drug activity in a number of ways. Usually police get reports by neighbors, tips from citizens, and information provided by other individuals they arrest.
“There is still a tremendous amount of drug trafficking that goes on in the state, and that’s concerning to us,” Lane said. “That has continued to climb over the last two years, we’ve watched that, and that’s concerning to us.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: 59 arrested for sale of opiates in statewide drug sweep.