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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990                   TAG: 9004170128
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Southwest bureau
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

WYTHE INDICTMENTS LAUNCH DRUG ARRESTS

The Tri-County Drug Task Force began making arrests Monday night after a Wythe County grand jury indicted 35 people on drug-related charges earlier in the day.

Wythe County Sheriff Wayne Pike said a total of 53 indictments were issued Monday, many of them involving charges of selling cocaine. There also were marijuana and related misdemeanor drug charges issued.

Pike said the charges resulted from undercover operations carried out over the past several months, financed mostly by a grant written by the Sheriff's Department. He said it was given the code name Operation Hugo - Hazardous Undercover Drug Operations - and is a continuation of an effort resulting in similar mass indictments and arrests in Smyth County recently.

Cutting the flow of illegal drugs in the Wythe, Bland and Smyth county areas is a goal of the task force, which includes sheriffs' departments in those counties and state police.

by CNB