Four-Month BPD Investigation Leads To Drug Ring Take-Down
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Guns, drugs and nearly a dozen suspects are now off the streets of West Baltimore after a major drug bust this week.
Baltimore City Police and the state's attorney's office are touting this as proof of a "renewed focus" on making the streets of Baltimore safer.
The drug trafficking ring at Woodbrook and North Ave was known as "Black Magic", and on Tuesday, 11 suspected members were put in handcuffs, among them was Antonio Johnson Junior, Davon Jones, Jarrell Wilson, Ashley Hargrove and Derrick McFadden.
"We're here to announce a takedown based on a four-month investigation by the BPD's newly-formed Major Case Squad," said interim police commissioner Gary Tuggle.
The major bust turned up $16,000 in cash, seven illegal guns and large amounts of fentanyl and suspected cocaine.
State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby considers some of those arrested kingpins.
"We are partnering, not just with Baltimore Police Department, but with our federal partners to ensure that we're big after individuals that are wreaking havoc in our community. We know that these fentanyl distributors are driving violence in this city," Mosby said.
The take-down comes as city leaders are scrambling to get violent crime in Baltimore under control.
Police say they are hopeful it will cut into violence at the infamous Penn and North intersection, a neighborhood that saw eight of last year's 309 homicides.
"Cases like this should send a message that we cannot and will not allow people to carry illegal guns and peddle poison in our city," Tuggle said.
All 11 suspects will be charged in the state court system, but police have not released all of their names. The state's attorney's office is not ready to say whether any of them are directly tied to overdose deaths or homicides.
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