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Citywide police sweep pounces on drug trade

Targeting six groups, it nets more than 120 arrests and drugs, cars, guns and cash.

By EMILY NIPPS and SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published November 9, 2005

TAMPA - The woman on Bougainvillea Avenue was a drug dealer's girlfriend, police said. When they took her to jail Tuesday, she cursed them. Then they went after her boyfriend a few blocks away. Already, they had arrested a man in Sulphur Springs.

All would face drug charges.

"Three for three, not bad," said Tampa police Officer Jason Herron, as he drove back to the station to get a few more warrants.

The scene played out over and over in Tampa as police swept through some of the city's busiest drug corners, ending an investigation that began a year earlier. Even before Tuesday afternoon, the probe had netted 60 pounds of cocaine, almost 2,000 grams (43/8 pounds) of heroin, more than 17 pounds of marijuana, 35 vehicles, 28 guns and $660,000 in cash, police said.

Narcotics detectives and officers assigned to antidrug squads already had arrested 80 people on state and federal charges; among them, 33 top-level suppliers charged with drug trafficking.

By Tuesday evening, another 45 were expected to be in custody.

"This will have more of an absolute impact on the community, getting all of these dealers off the streets at one time," said Tampa police Maj. Jane Siling, who oversees criminal investigations.

Police characterized the sting as the first in Tampa history to touch so many drug operations at once. Dubbed Operation Safe Corridor, it focused on six drug trafficking groups, along with independent street dealers.

One group was accused of peddling crack cocaine in Sulphur Springs; another, of selling cocaine out of the Plaza Meat & Deli at 8622 N 40th St.; a third, of importing heroin from South America in beer cans.

In addition to Tampa, suspects came from Texas, Miami, Philadelphia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Two prior operations had targeted east Tampa and the Central Park public housing complex. They brought dozens of arrests on charges ranging from marijuana possession to racketeering.

Authorities hope their efforts will help restore Sulphur Springs to its former glory. The neighborhood once drew tourists from all over the country to bathe in the mineral-rich waters of the springs. But in recent decades, it has been better known as a transient, high-crime neighborhood where car thieves are known to ditch their free rides.

That's in the process of changing, said Maj. Bob Guidara, the district's police commander.

"It's becoming a livable, secure and prospering community," he said. "You can see it and we hear it all the time from residents living there."

[Last modified November 9, 2005, 00:55:39]