The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Friday announced the seizure of more than $1 million worth of cocaine and heroin in the city.
A multi-state drug investigation is ongoing, with 11 suspects arrested and three still at large.
Dubbed “Operation Cash Flow,” the investigation is spanning multiple major cities. Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said though the suspects are members of different organizations, they’re connected by cash and trade routes.
“What really ties these organizations together, again we call it cash flow, is the money flow and just the trafficking — how the traffickers work together. Again, not only in Jacksonville, but really every city in America,” he said. “So, pretty complex operation.”
Williams said police were alerted last September to an influx of cocaine in the College Gardens neighborhood. Federal and state agencies jumped in to help pick up 11 suspects — mostly along highways between Miami, Atlanta and Jacksonville. Local law enforcement had help from the DEA, FBI, postal inspectors, the Florida Highway Patrol and others.
Williams said more than $100,000 dollars, and a cache of weapons, including a gold-plated pistol, were seized, along with $1 million dollars’ worth of fentanyl-laced heroin and cocaine.
“So just to give you some perspective, this seizure took about 20,000 individual lethal doses of heroin off the streets of Jacksonville. Also during this case we were able to seize 8.3 kilos of cocaine,” he said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office stresses that anyone with information on the three remaining suspects — Emarrie Jackson, Bernard Brown, and Wayne Norman— can submit a tip anonymously at jsocrimetips@jaxsheriff.org or call 1-866-845-TIPS.
Ryan Benk can be reached at rbenk@wjct.org, 904-358-6319 or on Twitter at @RyanMichaelBenk.
