Police sweep Cape for drug suspects

Cape Girardeau police Thursday took part in a regional sweep for drug suspects that netted 83 suspects in 12 jurisdictions, the leader of the SEMO Drug Task Force said.

In the local roundup, police arrested four of 11 suspects who allegedly sold drugs to undercover police officers over a four- month period in late 2006. The drug charges range from selling a small amount of crack cocaine to accusations that some suspects sold large quantities of psychedelic mushrooms and marijuana.

"What we are trying to do at this moment is make it uncomfortable to sell, buy or do drugs in Cape Girardeau," said Capt. Roger Fields of the Cape Girardeau Police Department. "We want to make them go somewhere else to sell their drugs or do their drugs."

The SEMO Drug Task Force enlisted the aid of 12 police agencies from Portageville to Poplar Bluff to Cape Girardeau as part of the drug crackdown, task force director Kevin Glaser said.

"We decided to make a coordinated effort to pick up a number of individuals and do it on a larger scale, a regional basis rather than in times past when we did local raids in Cape Girardeau or Sikeston or whatever," Glaser said. "We hit all these areas simultaneously to create a bigger impact and put a little more pressure on."

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