-from tvnz.co.nz-

Nearly 50 officers are actively hunting gang member Nathan Fenton at the centre of a brutal homicide inquiry.

The 31-year-old has not been seen since his girlfriend, Mairina Dunn was found dead in an Otangarei home on Sunday.

The 17-year-old died after a prolonged beating with a blunt instrument.

Detective Senior Sergeant Marty Ruth says around 46 staff are on the inquiry team searching for the Black Power member.

He says the inquiry is moving along nicely, with a stream of reports on his whereabouts coming in.

-from mexicoledger.com-

CENTRALIA - A joint investigation by the East Central Drug Task Force and Centralia Police Department resulted in the largest undercover drug investigation in the history of Centralia. The two-year undercover investigation resulted in warrants being issued for 38 different defendants. All the warrants were issued for the distribution/delivery of a controlled substance.

Sam Hartsell, chief of police, stated the investigation was a joint effort, led by undercover officers of the East Central Drug Task Force. During the two-year period, officers spent countless hours infiltrating known and suspected drug dealers. Hartsell said officers purchased marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy, psilocyn mushrooms and numerous controlled, prescribed narcotics, including hydrocodone (Vicodin), alprazolam (Xanex) and oxycontin. Hartsell said the force spent approximately $5,000 purchasing the aforementioned narcotics.

The defendants were arrested during an early morning raid Tuesday. Agencies assisting the task force and police department were the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Boone County Sheriff’s Department, Mexico Public Safety, Audrain County Sheriff’s Department and Mustang Drug Task Force.

Hartsell said the majority of the investigation was conducted in Centralia, but suspects led officers to Mexico, Columbia, Paris and Hallsville.

Those in custody and their bonds include:

William S. Cooper, 24, Centralia, $60,000;

Kevin D. Dickey, 37, Centralia, $10,000;

Shelly L. Fritch, 20, Centralia, $30,000;

Steven H. Fritch Jr., 21, Centralia, $30,000;

Kyla M. Furey, 21, Mexico, $15,000;

Jessica M. Gerken, 25, Centralia, $50,000;

Chad A. Hester, 33, Columbia, $125,000;

Crystal L. Hunt, 20, Centralia, $30,000;

Jonathan J. Hunt, 23, Centralia, $25,000;

Niki L. Maddox, 22, Mexico, $20,000;

David D. Moore, 30, Centralia, $20,000;

James Nelson Jr., 37, Mexico, $100,000;

Dustin D. Nichols, 20, Centralia, $55,000;

Hayley S. Pierce, 18, Centralia, $55,000;

Travis D. Roberts, 30, Columbia, $15,000;

Scott L. Turner, 28, Centralia, $80,000; Danielle D. Walter, 21, Centralia, $15,000;

Simon E. Whisler, 21, Centralia, $30,000.

Officers are seeking an additional 20 defendants.

-from wreg.com-

By Michelle Ponto

Police arrested several suspects involved in a stand-off at what neighbors describe as a carwash/detail shop on Broadway in Forrest City, Arkansas.

-from mercurynews.com-

By Kelli Phillips

ANTIOCH - Police arrested one person and seized 73 marijuana plants and hydroponic growing equipment at a residential home, police announced Thursday.

Antioch police served a search warrant at a home in the 200 block of Rossi Avenue about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, a news release said. The interior of the two-bedroom home had been significantly altered to accommodate a large hydroponic cultivation system, the release said.

The home’s lone resident, 27-year-old Nicholas Ojeda, was in possession of a handgun, a small amount of suspected cocaine and ecstasy as well as 73 marijuana plants and $20,000 worth of growing equipment, the release said.

He told police he worked for a Fremont company that sells hydroponic equipment commonly used to cultivate marijuana. He was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and cultivation.

Coincidentally, the residence was directly across the street from a house of prostitution that Antioch police shut down in June. Police say there doesn’t appear to be any connection between the two locations.

-from franklincountycitizen.com-

Lavonia Police and the Piedmont Northern M.A.N.S. Unit arrested a local pair on cocaine and marijuana charges Saturday night in the parking lot of the Best Western Motel.

While on routine patrol on August 26 at approximately 10:30 p.m., Sergeant Ken Ford noticed two people standing outside a 2005 Chrysler 300. As he approached the vehicle, Ford noticed the two had open containers. Upon seeing Ford, one of the loiterers who was later identified as Michael Elliot Smith, 26, of Lavonia, began to run.

Ford was able to apprehend both of the men.

The second man was Benjamin Bernard Morris, 32, of Lavonia.

Ford discovered quantities of illegal drugs and weighing scales also in the 2005 Chrysler 300.

Police Chief Randy Shirley said that his officers called the M.A.N.S. Unit for assistance and further investigation.

Upon testing the found substances, agents confirmed that the illegal drugs were cocaine and marijuana.

Two baggies of cocaine weighing approximately 1/8 of an ounce each, a large zip lock bag of marijuana and the 2005 Chrysler 300 were seized.

Shirley said that both men were no strangers to law enforcement and have been arrested and served time in prison on drug charges.

“Morris has served time in a federal prison for previous drug trafficking charges through Lavonia,” Shirley said. “Smith has also served time for previous drug charges.”

Both men are currently in the Franklin County Jail with no bond.

-from wivb.com-

Police in the Southern Tier have made a big drug bust in Allegany County.

-from duluthsuperior.com-

STILLWATER, Minn. - Seven suspects are charged in U.S. District Court after federal drug agents seized 7 pounds of meth and an arsenal of weapons from a Stillwater town house.

A Twin Cities D-E-A officer says the meth could have fetched up to $100,000 on the street. He calls it a, quote, “very significant bust.”

The criminal complaint says investigators got information that the drugs were being brought to Minnesota by a trafficking organization. Additional investigation led D-E-A agents to a Stillwater town house, where they conducted surveillance.

In addition to the drugs and guns, agents also found about $15,000 in cash in a bedroom.

A Washington County sheriff’s commander says the bust is one of the largest of its kind ever in the county.

-from ifpress.ca-

By Patrick Maloney

Two police raids this week have netted $215,000 in cocaine — more than half the amount seized by the London drug squad in all of 2005.

Just five days after officers found one kilogram of cocaine in an Arbour Glen Crescent raid, police stormed a south-end home Tuesday night, grabbing another 1.4 kg. of the increasingly popular drug. That five-day haul rivals the $350,000 in cocaine seized by London police drug officers last year. The 2006 seizures already total nearly $850,000, says the head of the London police drug section. “There’s lots here,” said Det. Sgt. John Carson, who attributed this week’s major busts to “good police work and luck.” The drug squad’s busy stretch started Aug. 25, when officers searched a home on Arbour Glen and seized 1.1 kg. of cocaine. Police also took $8,000 in cash and a car. William Earl Liddiard of Muirkirk faces drug-related charges, police said. Drug squad officers then swooped down on a residence at 19 Bridlington Rd. — southwest of the intersection of Pond Mills and Southdale roads — about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. They also stopped a connected car a few blocks away. About 1.4 kg. of cocaine was seized, along with a quantity of marijuana, ecstacy and the powerful painkiller OxyContin, police said. Officers also grabbed $13,000 in cash. Scott McManus, 23, of London faces nearly a dozen charges, including two counts of possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking. Though the increase in drug seizures may indicate a growth in the city’s drug trade, police pointed to the arrests as a positive step. “It’s a great seizure for the city,” Const. Amanda Pfeffer said of the Tuesday night bust. “It will go quite a long distance in getting a large quantity of the . . . cocaine in London off the street.” Most of the cocaine in London comes from South America and travels through the United States before arriving here, Carson said, adding organized crime — such as biker gangs — is often involved.