In recent days and weeks, JSO has been busy shutting down organized illegal drug operations, and with each raid, police have been seizing large amounts of illegal drugs, money, and guns.
A home surveillance camera ripped from the wall and a bash-in door at a townhome on Gate Run Road in the Arlington area were the reminders of the most recent drug raid.
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According to JSO, the raid on that home was the result of a months-long investigation into a large-scale drug operation that led to the arrest of nine men.
When police raided the home, they said they seized 85 pounds of packaged marijuana, cocaine, drug paraphernalia associated with the drug trafficking and distribution, more than $36,000 in cash, $30,000 worth of jewelry, and several firearms. One of the firearms was reported stolen. The marijuana alone was found in large and small bags in nearly every room of the house. Investigators said they even found bags of marijuana in a refrigerator, a microwave oven, in suitcases, kitchen cabinets, and even the pantry.
Several of the suspects in that case were charged with first-degree felony marijuana trafficking. If convicted on that felony alone, those suspects could face up to 30 years in a Florida prison.
Retired JSO Director of Investigations turned News4JAX crime and safety analyst, Tom Hackney, said the excess amount of marijuana police seized from that home is likely not for personal use but rather to make money on the streets, which has a higher probability of attracting gun violence.
“It all comes back to territory and property. I’ve got money invested in 25-plus pounds of marijuana. I have to protect my selling territory,” Hackney said
Days before the raid on the Arlington townhome, police raided another home in Jacksonville where they said they seized enough fentanyl that could potentially kill 59,000 people. During that same drug raid, police also seized 10 firearms and a small amount of cocaine. Several days before that raid, police shut down a suspected drug house on Prince Street in Northwest Jacksonville, where they seized an assortment of dangerous illegal narcotics. And late last month, police shut down a suspected fentanyl operation at a home on Lippia Road in Northwest Jacksonville. They said during the Lippia Road raid, they seized enough fentanyl that could potentially kill more than 126,000 people.
All of the recent drug investigations that led to drug seizures and arrests started from anonymous tips, basically, concerned citizens who saw something suspicious and reported their suspicions to police.
“They start with that one little phone call like ‘Hey, this might night be anything but,’ and you start utilizing undercovers to this and that and build a case and so many investigative things get done to lead detectives to the point where they are ready to go and knock and kick down a door,” Hackney said.
Both local and federal law enforcement have long linked illegal drug activity to deadly gun violence. Hackney said these frequent drug raids and drug arrests are likely one of the reasons why Jacksonville’s murder rate is lower this year.