United States Attorney
Northern District of Mississippi

 

Jim M. Greenlee, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi; Marshall Fisher, Director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics; Michael Holt, Special Agent in Charge, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Stephen Luzinski, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, The Drug Enforcement Administration; and Stephen Gomez, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; announced that in weekend operations a coordinated state and federal effort under the Department of Justice’s national Anti- Methamphetamine Initiative and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics sponsored Operation 607, a total of 36 people were arrested and charged with sales of methamphetamine precursors, untaxed cigarette trafficking or electronic food stamp violations from convenience stores located in Northern Mississippi.

The 21 state arrests, all under charges of sales of illegal amounts of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine were pursuant to MBN’s Operation 607, named for the Mississippi House Bill signed by Governor Barbour in late 2005 making it illegal to dispense ephedrine/pseudoephedrine under circumstances knowing or where one reasonably should know that the precursor will be used to unlawfully manufacture a controlled substance.

The fifteen federal arrests were pursuant to joint federal and state operations of Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General. The arrests were for federal violations concerning sales based from ten convenience stores of methamphetamine precursors being pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, sales of untaxed cigarettes and/or electronic food stamp violations.

“This was an excellent example of teamwork among federal, state and local agencies,” said Michael A. Holt, Special Agent in Charge of ICE’s Office of Investigations in New Orleans. “We will continue to work aggressively to keep drugs out of our communities, and to dismantle the criminal networks that profit from narcotics trafficking.”

Jim M. Greenlee, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, stressed that those charged are presumed innocent until guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

Point of contact at the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

John R. Hailman, Criminal Division Chief (662) 234-3351

 

 

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