POLICE ARREST 17 OUTSIDE FORT MILL NIGHTCLUB

FORT MILL - It didn't take much to cull suspected drug dealers with bags of
cocaine and handfuls of ecstasy pills from a crowd of clubgoers outside a
northern York County nightspot early Saturday. Drug agents only had to walk
around the parking lot outside Ibiza, the trendy all-night dance club
located on S.C. 51, said Marvin Brown, commander of the York County
Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit.

"It was pretty easy," Brown said. "We'd just have undercover officers walk
around and ask, "Do you have any drugs to sell?'"

Officers arrested 17 people on 32 charges during a narcotics investigation
between midnight and 4 a.m. Agents recovered 50 ecstasy pills,

27 grams of cocaine, 15 grams of marijuana, two guns and $2,521 in cash.

Fifteen of the charges were for dealing drugs. A Mount Holly, N.C., man was
caught with a dozen ecstasy pills, and a pair from Charlotte came to the
club with 25 grams of cocaine.

No arrests were made inside the club.

But outside, where cars were crammed in nearby parking lots and patrons
were lined up as late as 4 a.m., some were openly dealing, drinking beer or
even urinating in full view of agents, Brown said.

"We could have arrested twice that number," said Brown, who said agents
estimated the crowd to number in the thousands.

Nearly all those captured came from outside York County. Only one was a
local man - Eduardo J. Rossner, 23, of 437 E. Main St., Rock Hill, who was
charged with possession of marijuana, according to a report from the York
County Sheriff's Office.

Much of the night's crowd came from Charlotte, where the nighttime scene
shuts down at 2 a.m. because of local laws.

Ibiza promises an all-night scene, with doors open and drinks poured until
6 a.m., according to advertisements.

Brown noted that at midnight, the parking lot was open, but by 2 a.m., a
line of more than a hundred waited to be checked out by security and
allowed inside.