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Law enforcement agencies announce arrests resulting from large drug trafficking investigation

Courtesy of Delaware State Police
Drugs and firearms Delaware State Police say they and other agencies seized during “Operation No Mas.”";s:

Delaware State Police and several other law enforcement agencies announced the conclusion of an investigation into an illegal drug trafficking organization Monday.

The operation by state, New Castle County, Wilmington and Philadelphia police, as well as the FBI, resulted in the arrest or indictment of 28 people on 252 felony charges. Law enforcement say they also seized large quantities of drugs and cash. 

Investigators say they started receiving information about an illicit drug dealing network involving the Renteria Criminal Organization in 2018. They say they linked the organization to violent crimes in the area, particularly a homicide in Wilmington. 

The seizures law enforcement reported amounted to seven and a half kilograms of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, several kilograms of cocaine, hundreds of grams of heroin, 45 pounds of marijuana, hundreds of Xanax pills, twenty firearms and $260,000 in suspected drug proceeds. 

“Dismantling the Renteria organization and getting these illegal and lethal drugs off the street could be the difference in life and death for so many Delawareans," Special Agent Jennifer Boone of the FBI Baltimore Field Office said in a statement. "However, our fight against illegal drugs is far from over. The FBI is dedicated to disrupting and dismantling the most significant gangs through intelligence-driven investigations, new and longstanding initiatives, and local and transnational partnerships."

Boone pointed to the Safe Streets Task Force, which she said has assisted in the arrest of more than 60 "violent and dangerous individuals" in Delaware so far this year, and taken more than 30 illegal weapons off the streets.

Criminal justice and policing reform advocates, such as the ACLU of Delaware, have criticized Operation Safe Streets-Governor’s Task Force, which targets high-risk probationers to enforce compliance with curfews and other probation conditions. In a report criticizing Delaware's probation system that the ACLU released this summer, the organization argued the program results in the "harassment and over-policing" of communities of color, and it "doesn’t make anyone safer."

 

 

Sophia Schmidt is a Delaware native. She comes to Delaware Public Media from NPR’s Weekend Edition in Washington, DC, where she produced arts, politics, science and culture interviews. She previously wrote about education and environment for The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, MA. She graduated from Williams College, where she studied environmental policy and biology, and covered environmental events and local renewable energy for the college paper.
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