LAW ENFORCEMENT AVERTED TRAGEDY AND SAVED LIVES

We've received no small measure of reassurance this week that law
enforcement officials at all levels of government do, indeed, have a far
reach into the shadowy places of the Seacoast community.

Had they not had their eyes open and ears to the ground, the heinous plan
allegedly hatched by three men might have unfolded at a small pharmacy in
Portsmouth. Who knows how many innocent people might have died because of
the lust for OxyContin and other prescription drugs for sale on our streets?

Because of the exceptional work of the Portsmouth Police Department's
Special Investigation Unit, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the
federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms, a bloodbath planned for
Tuesday was averted and several lives were saved.

Charles Veillette, 32, of Portsmouth and Jay Howard, 24, and his brother,
Jeff Howard, 21, - neither of whom has a fixed address - were arrested
Monday and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit
robbery and conspiracy to commit theft.

In connection with the case, authorities have seized a number of
semiautomatic handguns and fully automatic submachine guns equipped with
silencers, several bulletproof vests, and black tactical clothing with masks.

Police say the trio intended to set the crime in motion with a carjacking
in which the driver would be killed. Then they allegedly planned to rob
Green's Drug Store on Lafayette Road and execute everyone in the pharmacy
and any bystanders who may have gotten in their way.

The madness and senselessness of this plot makes us sick. That calculated
deeds like these could be unleashed in a quiet business in Portsmouth is
enough to turn one's blood cold, and we wonder how anyone is capable of
such a devaluation of human life.

The outpouring from customers of Green's Drug Store toward pharmacist and
store owner Richard Philbrook, who might have been in harm's way on
Tuesday, shows how our sense of community sustains us when bad things happen.

OxyContin is capable of alleviating suffering for people who otherwise,
during the final days of their lives, would be in great pain. The irony is
that OxyContin also is capable of causing great suffering because of those
who seek to steal the drug and abuse it.

The nettlesome problem of handling these strictly regulated medications
remains because there are those who choose to live outside the law and will
stop at nothing to steal them.

No doubt, the Seacoast community owes a debt of gratitude to all the law
enforcement officers who worked to break this case before a single shot
could be fired.