READING, Pa. – Authorities have made more arrests in a Reading-area drug operation that they say involves 29 people.
The FBI nabbed a man in Texas, two other people turned themselves in, and police picked up one person at a traffic stop. That leaves seven men on the loose.
“Get people off the streets who are selling or consuming drugs I think that’s a good thing and if it continues to be that way that’s a good thing,” says Javein Ganns, a Reading resident.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams says the authorities got their first break in the case on Sept. 3 when Pennsylvania State Police made a traffic stop on I-78 in Berks County. Authorities say they found nine kilograms of cocaine and a loaded gun. People we spoke to say this a great first step but there’s more work to be done.
“I think they should stop more of the drugs cause there’s still drugs all over here in Reading,” a Reading resident says.
“When you walk around and see people bent over it’s not good,” says Bobby Newton, a Reading resident.
The DA says agents traced the drugs to an operation with ties to a Mexican cartel. Authorities say one of the 29 defendants had “direct links” to the unspecified cartel and was responsible for supplying the operation.
Police say they have since seized fake opioid pills of suspected fentanyl, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, meth, marijuana, thousands of dollars, and handguns.
“Getting drugs off the street or getting any type of thing that’s going to alter the people’s minds or more or less destroy we want to get rid of it,” Newton says.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of any of the wanted individuals is asked to contact Berks County Detectives.