HOLMES COUNTY, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
Some small towns in Holmes County may be a bit safer now. An undercover sting to pick up and arrest some of the county's most wanted drug dealers and violent offenders got underway before the crack of dawn Wednesday.
Aside from a few flashlights, agents with the North Central Narcotics Task Force, along with officers and deputies from all across Holmes County and the state, met before dawn for "Operation Blindside." It's part of a forceful initiative to arrest drug and violent offenders throughout Holmes County -- by surprise, in the early-morning hours.
"At a time like this with Tchula in the last few days they've had several shootouts between rival gangs," one of the undercover agents told WLBT News.
Geared with Glocks and AR-15's, the first mission for this group of agents was to issue a search warrant for alleged drug offender Adrian Brown, known as "Tobay" on the streets. When they arrived at a home in Tchula, he wasn't there. But his aunt Rosie Anderson told police where to find him and within minutes Brown was under arrest.
Dogs from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics helped search in and around the home. Eventually, drugs were found.
"We did find a small amount of marijuana and other packaging things, sandwich bags and digital scales," an agent told WLBT News.
At the second stop in Tchula, agents issued an arrest warrant for alleged drug dealer Andrial Young. Young was arrested and is suspected of selling drugs out of an SUV.
Lexington Police Chief Martin Roby says officers in Lexington arrest 2 to 3 drug offenders weekly. But the goal of Operation Blindside is to multiply those numbers throughout the county.
"Some of it is street-corner activityK, but that's the kind of stuff bringing down our community," said Chief Roby. "We need to try to clean this up."
By the end of the day, the goal was to pick up 16 suspects to make the streets safer.
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