DRUG TASK FORCE ARRESTING 50

St.Lawrence County's Drug Task Force fanned out across the county early
this morning armed with arrest warrants in what law enforcement officials
are describing as the biggest drug raid since the inter agency group was
created.

With assistance from federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents,
Ogdensburg police, village police, Sheriff's Deputies and a coordinated
series of predawn raids on the homes of suspected dealers.

St. Lawrence county Sheriff Gary Jarvis says the arrests involve a variety
of drugs, ranging from marijuana, cocaine, crack, ecstasy to LSD.

They represent the culmination of a year of multi agency investigations
throughout St. Lawrence County and over one hundred controlled buys funded
by the St. Lawrence County Legislature and the law enforcement agencies
involved in the investigation.

The Drug Task Force includes members from the Sheriff's Department,
Ogdensburg Police, Massena Police, Potsdam Police. Gouverneur Police,
Canton Police. SUNY Potsdam Police and SUNY Canton police.

The task force also received assistance from the National Guard Counter
Drug Detachment, the New York State Police Narcotics Unit, the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs. U.S. Border Patrol, the St.
Lawrence County District Attorney's office and the United States Attorney
office for the Northern District.

Sheriff Jarvis declined to release a list of suspects targeted in the
pre-dawn drug sweep, saying that he did not want any of them tipped off
that officers were coming for them if they were not there when officers
arrived at their homes this morning.

Officers had gathered at police stations across the county at 4:43 a.m.
this morning for last minute briefings before fanning out across the
region, armed with warrants to make arrests in the drug sweep.

More than 100 federal, state, county and local law enforcement officers
were involved in the multi agency raids.

All of the suspects were to be held at St. Lawrence County Jail here,
according to Jarvis, to await their arraignment in county court next
door. The sheriff said this morning that 26 inmates now housed there will
be moved temporarily to county jails in Franklin and Oneida counties to
accommodate the occupancy of the drug suspects.

St. Lawrence County District Attorney Jerome Richards. who presented the
cases to the Grand Jury to obtain the arrest warrants, scheduled a press
conference for this afternoon where agency officials were to discuss the
arrests.