COLUMBIA — After 22 months of undercover work by a drug task force, an early morning sweep today led to the arrest of eight individuals on suspicion of selling drugs.
The North Missouri Drug Task Force — made up of officers from municipalities and counties around northern Missouri — identified suspects through an undercover drug-buying operation, according to a news release from the Moberly Police Department.
Marijuana, Ecstasy, crack cocaine, mushrooms and prescription medications were bought by undercover officers, according to the release.
The operation was code-named “Operation Heartbreaker” because the sweep was planned for the day after Valentine’s Day, said Capt. Chris Brown, director of the task force.
Chariton County Sheriff Christopher Hughes said the task force was joined by the Moberly, Huntsville and Brookfield police departments, the Randolph County and Chariton County sheriff’s offices and the Missouri State Highway Patrol to complete the drug bust. The seven agencies split into teams around 5 a.m. to make arrests, Hughes said.
Moberly police Sgt. Kevin Palmatory said the last time the task force did this type of roundup was April 2006. Generally, the task force has 15 to 40 warrants at a time when it does a roundup. In this sweep, eight individuals were located quickly, he said.
“It was a successful and safe operation,” Palmatory said. “All the arrests were made without incident.”
Brown said there are still warrants out for several people that couldn’t be located this morning and that police will continue to search for those individuals.
Hughes said the operation wasn’t in his county but he was there to add extra manpower. Police departments from small areas must work together, he said.
“We work with other county departments around us on a weekly basis,” Hughes said. “We’re a small unit, and criminals don’t stop at the county lines.”