DRUG SWEEP NETS 30 IN ALGOMA

Thirty people have been charged with drug trafficking offences following
early morning raids conducted over a two-day period in Sault Ste. Marie,
Spanish, Massey, Elliot Lake, and Espanola areas. Det. Insp. and Deputy
Director of the OPP drug prevention n division, Moe Elbers, said that
undercover officers from the Joint Forces Drug Unit were able to infiltrate
street-level to mid-level drug dealers operating in Sault Ste. Marie and
the districts of Algoma and Sudbury.

He said three undercover officers, working independently of one another,
were able to make numerous purchases of controlled substances.

The nine-month investigation conducted by the Ontario Provincial Police,
Drug Enforcement Section, the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, and OPP
Northeast Region, Crime Unit was code-named Project Mustang.

In addition to 30 people being charged, $30,000-worth of cocaine, hash oil,
and marijuana was purchased. Charges are pending against four more
individuals, said Elbers.

During a press conference Thursday in Sault Ste. Marie, Elbers and Sault
Police Service Chief Bob Davies both admitted that it is not a big drug bust.

However, said Elbers, this investigation targetted the "cocaine crowd," and
gathered much intelligence that is being used to further other ongoing
investigations.

Davies said, "It is yet to be seen how much effect this has on the
street-level drug dealers in this city. But if you look at the list, these
are all people who have not been charged previously. In addition, it puts
the message out there that police are active and watching.

"But there's no doubt that there continues to be drugs on the street."

Elbers said that during this investigation some of the cocaine came to be
in the Sault and Algoma area by way of Toronto.

"But I can't say it all comes from Toronto. In the Sault here, there is
also the Montreal connection and, of course, out west."

Davies said this investigation is not connected with another probe, in
which city police officers are working with a number of other agencies to
look into several morphine-related deaths in the city during the past 18
months.

He said the morphine investigation is completely different. "These people
are not hanging around bars. These people are addicts and they're not into
street-level drugs."

Members of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police,
Northeast Region Crime Unit, East Algoma OPP Detachment, Elliot Lake Police
Service, and the Greater Sudbury Regional Police Service assisted with the
Project Mustang raids.