BOSTON (WHDH) – A joint operation conducted earlier this week that was led by the Massachusetts State Police Commonwealth Interstate Narcotics Reduction Enforcement Team, Homeland Security Investigations, Raynham Police Department, and prosecuted by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, resulted in the execution of search warrants at 20 locations throughout Fall River, Taunton, Raynham, Norton, Pembroke, and Falmouth, and the arrests of 16 suspected fentanyl and cocaine distributors.
During the searches, law enforcement seized approximately 2,360 grams of cocaine and 1,364 grams of fentanyl, 33 firearms, multiple high-capacity magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and $109,355 in US currency.
The AGO’s State Police Detective Unit, the State Police’s Technical Services Unit, the Plymouth, Bristol and Norfolk County State Police Detective Units, Norton Police Department, Fall River Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration New Bedford Resident Office, United States Postal Inspection Service, and the West Bridgewater Police Department also provided valuable investigative assistance.
“Operation No Love” began in March of 2024, when members of CINRET-South, consisting of Troopers and Officers with Brockton and East Bridgewater Police Departments and a special agent with HSI, initiated a narcotics investigation into a drug trafficking organization involved in the distribution of fentanyl and cocaine in Bristol County.
Through investigative efforts, an undercover State Trooper was able to successfully conduct nine controlled drug purchases with a member of the drug trafficking organization. With the controlled purchases as a starting point, the investigative team used a combination of physical and electronic surveillance, toll analysis, and court-authorized electronic intercepts of target cell phones, to identify the organization’s hierarchy, primary subjects, communication devices, vehicles, methods of operation, and…