POLICE SWEEP SUSPECTED DEALERS FROM DOWNTOWN

Local News - A massive, undercover narcotics operation in downtown Sudbury
has put 42 suspected drug dealers behind bars. And the crackdown is not
over yet. Further arrests are expected, police officials said Wednesday.

After a six-month investigation in which undercover officers from three
Sudbury-area police forces made dozens of drug purchases, a co-ordinated
series of arrests were carried out Wednesday morning.

The bust filled police holding cells and netted $40,000 in drugs, thousands
in cash, numerous weapons and drug paraphernalia.

"We put the operation together in response to a significant number of
complaints from downtown merchants and people who visit the downtown," said
Greater Sudbury Police Chief Ian Davidson.

Davidson said that open drug dealing and intimidation, particularly in the
area of the Sudbury Transit Depot, were inhibiting business and social
activity.

"It was making the area very unpleasant for people who may want to come
into the downtown core and engage in shopping or social activities," he said.

Suspected dealers aged 15 to 74 were arrested, the majority being men in
their early twenties, and 140 charges were laid.

"We're not talking about kids in the possession of a few joints," Davidson
said. "We're talking about young people who are making a living dealing in
a variety of illegal drugs, some of them carrying illegal weapons."

A display table at the press conference held bags of cash, a shotgun and
knives, an array of hard drugs, including crack and powdered cocaine, a
large bag of ecstasy powder and a variety of potent prescription medications.