ANTI-DRUG TEAM ON POT PROWL

ITHACA - Marijuana remains the focus of a police anti-drug team
operating in Gratiot and Shiawassee counties.

Members of the Mid-Michigan Area Group Narcotics Enforcement Team -
which consists of police officers from several departments and led by
state police - conducted 167 investigations last year, said State
Police Lt. Mark Piercecchi, unit commander.

Since the team formed in 1995, it has logged 716 investigations
leading to 556 arrests and drug seizures exceeding $2.6 million,
Piercecchi said.

About 83 percent of the arrests are for violations of marijuana laws,
13 percent for cocaine and the rest for a variety of other illegal
substances.

Last year, the unit arrested 125 suspects on 210 drug-related charges
and seized 219 pounds of marijuana.

Officers confiscated 650 marijuana plants, the largest haul in the
group's four-year history, Piercecchi said.

Investigators seized 45 grams of cocaine and recovered $349,000 in
stolen property.

The drugs were worth more than $874,000, he estimated.

The team's toll-free hotline number is (888) 624-6389. Informants do
not have to give their names.