
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 28, 1990                   TAG: 9003280460
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

21 INDICTED IN SMYTH COUNTY DRUG SWEEP

A Smyth County grand jury indicted 21 people Tuesday on 36 drug charges stemming from a 12-month undercover operation, Sheriff J.L. Archer said.

Authorities were rounding up the suspects Tuesday night. Archer said no names would be released until all the suspected had been arrested. Most of the charges involved cocaine, Archer said.

The undercover operation, which focused on the Saltville area, was conducted by the Tri-County Task Force made up of officers from Smyth, Bland and Wythe counties and the state police.

Archer said the undercover operation had nabbed street level dealers as well as a few people suspected of being larger suppliers to the area.

Several of those indicted Tuesday had been named in federal indictments last week, Archer said.

"We got some that were involved pretty heavily in the federal case," he said.

The Smyth County indictments included 33 felony drug counts and three misdemeanor counts, he said.

by CNB