Sheriff: 85 arrests in California-Florida drug flight scheme

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BARTOW, Fla. ā€“ Eighty-five people have been arrested and millions of dollars in illicit drugs seized in a smuggling operation that used checked bags on commercial flights from California to Florida, investigators said Friday.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference that the drugs were hidden in luggage on flights from Los Angeles to Orlando over a two-year period. One seizure involved six pieces of luggage containing nothing but drugs, he said.

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ā€œThey didnā€™t even put so much as a pair of underwear in there to hide it,ā€ Judd told reporters.

The 85 arrests involved 355 combined felonies and 93 misdemeanors in a case centered on drug trafficking in the area around Winter Haven, Florida, authorities said.

The street value of about $12.8 million was estimated for the seizures of drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, fentanyl, oxycodone and Xanax. Forty-nine guns and $235,000 in cash was also confiscated.

Judd said it was the largest wiretap-related investigation in Polk County history.

ā€œItā€™s anything other than low-level and nonviolent,ā€ the sheriff said. ā€œThe whole time they were peddling poison to your kids.ā€


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