5-month investigation leads to major drug bust in Philadelphia's Kensington section, DA says
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office announced the seizure of 1,100 packets of fentanyl, two handguns and a bag of bullets as part of a five-month fentanyl trafficking investigation in Kensington.
During a Thursday afternoon news conference, prosecutors described how undercover officers with the Pennsylvania State Police made three undercover buys from Jada Williams, 21, which led to search warrants that resulted in the seizure of fentanyl and crack cocaine.
Williams was arraigned on Wednesday on multiple drug charges and other related offenses, according to the DA's office.
"It is our hope that in a truly collaborative and coordinated way that we will be able to take down some priority drug corners," District Attorney Larry Krasner said.
Members of the city council's "Kensington Caucus," who focus on issues in the neighborhood, attended the news conference.
"We know the direct result of open-air narcotic sales and open-air narcotics use," Councilwoman Quetcy Lozada (D-07) said. "We see the impact that they are having on that community, on the children and the families and the businesses in that community."
Councilman Jim Harrity, a Democrat and another member of the Kensington Caucus, said Williams was "directly responsible for destroying parts of that neighborhood."
"The guns we got off the street, in my neighborhood, we know far well that what two guns can do in the hands of somebody that means to do harm," Harrity said.
Buddy Osborn, the senior pastor of Rock Ministries, said he's done too many funerals in the drug-infested neighborhood. He said stopping the flow of drugs into Kensington is a major part of progress.
"When someone breaks the law, they have to be responsible for what they did," Osborn said. "The whole community is under siege, and we're hopeful that it's going to change."
The DA's Office said it plans to have more collaboration between its dangerous drug offenders unit and gun violence task force.