Daytona Beach, FL - The Daytona Beach Police Department (DBPD) revealed the results on Thursday of a three-month undercover drug sting that put 27 people in custody so far and involved four local businesses.
During this undercover operation, there were 53 drug sales to undercover police at four different Daytona Beach stores. The drugs ranged from heroine, crack cocaine, marijuana, even some fentanyl, which can be highly lethal. This was the second phase of a plan called "Operation Kickoff," which began at the beginning of the year in an effort to crack down on street-level drug sales. This phase was called "Operation Kickoff Return." It involved help from the State Attorney's Office, The Volusia County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, and the DEA.
The four businesses that were being investigated in the bust are as follows:
"We've received numerous complaints from a lot of citizens about drug activity and where it was occurring. Looking at our crime analysis maps, where we're seeing a spike in activity, criminal activity, property crimes, violent crimes, we kind of based a model on that to where we need to target our efforts," says Police Chief Craig Capri. He said the four locations mentioned were the main locations where the drug dealers wanted to set up deals with the undercover cops.
There are still more arrests that the police department is expecting to come out of this phase of the investigation. During the next phase of the operation, police hope to continue with another round of undercover buys and arrests. Capri says the Police Department will also go after the business owners and hold them accountable for condoning the drug sales on their property.
"We take this seriously, and these street-level drug sales often are the basis for a lot of the other crimes, your car breaks, your auto thefts, your gun violence. That's the goal is to reduce the street violent crime. That's the goal, and it's a never-ending effort unfortunately." says Capri.
For footage of the press conference held by DBPD, along with pictures of those arrested, click here.
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