MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Authorities announced Wednesday that there is a joint effort to fight drug and weapons trafficking, and money laundering that is proving to be successful in South Florida.
U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said dozens of suspects have been arrested in "Operation Smoking Gun III" and 16 are expected to appear in federal court Thursday.
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Detectives and undercover agents from multiple agencies worked as a team to target illegal firearm and drug trafficking -- including the sale of prescription drugs -- in Miami-Dade, police said.
"Guns plus drugs always equal violence and death," Miami-Dade County State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle said in a statement.
According to the Department of Justice since "Operation Smoking Gun III" started in 2012 there have been 97 arrests.
The seizures include 248 firearms, 342 grams of crack cocaine, 1,728 grams of cocaine, 634 grams of heroin, 2874 Oxycodone pills, 576 Percocet pills, 10 Morphine pills, and 15,208 grams of marijuana.
The operation has had similar results in past years. Broward County State Attorney's Office charged 63 suspects with narcotics and firearm violations on 2010, and 58 suspects in Palm Beach County on 2011, authorities said.
Some of the suspects listed: Alex Brown, 23; Andrew Harris, 38; Aundrice Moss, 31; Benjamin Nelson, 27; Charles Halls, 22; Christian Brown, 28; Darius Malcom, 21; Diego Joseph Saunders, 20; James White, 24; Keith Pratt, 49; Kelvin Espirt, 36; Larry Williams Jr., 32; Odumeqwu Ingram, 40; Patrick Lane, 52, and Sonya Spivey, 43.