FL: Semis packed with drugs were being delivered to Bay Area from California every week

In total, 130 subpoenas and 130 arrest warrants were issued.

What started as an investigation into ways to reduce gun violence in the Tampa Bay area ended up with local, state and federal agencies taking down a major regional drug ring, halting weekly drug shipments from California, St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said.

During a press conference Tuesday, Holloway said one to two tractor-trailers were coming per week from California to Hillsborough County, carrying marijuana and other narcotics since at least January. The operation could have been going on for much longer.

In January, Chief Holloway said the agency began looking at the violent crimes and shootings within the city. Ultimately, the vice and narcotics department said those incidents were related to drug sales.

“After we saw that, we reached out to other agencies in our area,” he explained. The FBI, ATF, Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office, Clearwater and Tampa police, along with the sheriff’s offices in Manatee, Pinellas and Hillsborough teamed up.

“These guys don’t know jurisdictional boundaries and the good thing is neither do we,” FDLE Special Agent in Charge Mark Brutnell said.

Just in the past two weeks, the task force seized about 1,800 pounds of marijuana worth about $3 million in street value, plus 42 grams of crack cocaine, 18 grams of heroin mixed with fentanyl. They also said they took seven pounds of liquid codeine, 40 grams of powder cocaine, five grams of methamphetamine, ecstasy, THC wax, $360,000 in cash, two stolen vehicles, six other vehicles and 15 guns.

Holloway said the AR-15 was connected to two shootings, one of which happened in Hillsborough County. The task force connected shell casings from different scenes to the drug ring. 

“People sometimes may say, ‘this is just marijuana,’” Chief Deputy Donna Lusczynski with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said. “Over half of our homicides in Hillsborough County are related to just marijuana, so it’s the violence that is associated with these drugs, and the people dealing them.”

In total, 130 subpoenas and 130 arrest warrants were issued. Officers arrested 26 suspects and several of them are in their early 20s. Some of those arrested are gang members, and Holloway said he believes this ring is connected to recent shootings involving teens in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

Officers are still looking for 23-year-old Jahad Perkins-Edwards. He’s wanted on charges of selling marijuana and aggravated assault, among other charges.

“We took them down and the next person that thinks they’re going to replace this group, we’ll take you down also,” Holloway said.

Holloway added that this is the first of several drug rings they’ve targeted.

“We weren’t going after the people on the street corner,” he said. “We were going after the people that were causing harm to our community. These are the men and women who were trying to destroy our community.”

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