MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Miami Beach’s SWAT team conducted a drug raid in South Beach, Wednesday morning.
At around 5 a.m., detectives, SWAT officers and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed search warrants on two apartments in the 1300 block of Alton Road. Miami Beach Police said this followed a two-month-long drug trafficking investigation that began on Ocean Drive.
Officers arrested one person during the raid, suspected of being a supplier of marijuana, cocaine and other narcotics on South Beach. Investigators said he was living in Miami Beach under a false alias and was wanted in Indiana for methamphetamine trafficking.
“It’s one thing to arrest someone who’s in possession, someone who is a buyer, but the really important thing is if you can get to the supplier, and this guy was a significant supplier,” said Miami Beach Police Chief Daniel Oates. “Let the message go out: this guy is going to jail, and he’s not getting out anytime soon.”
Neighbor Ana Brooks and her two children were asleep when the raid happened. “Suddenly awoken by a loud bang followed by another bang, followed by another bang,” she said. “It was just pretty intense.”
During the raid, detectives recovered about three pounds of marijuana and a handgun.
Police believe the supplier was also trafficking in handguns.
Brooks said she and other neighbors felt like something was off but didn’t realize how serious her hunch was.
“You can tell that there was some kind of weird activity going on,” Brooks said. “There were always shady people [coming] in and out at odd hours of the night, a lot of screaming, yelling.”
As police continue to investigate the subject, neighbors like Brooks are thankful that he is off the streets.
“That’s crazy to live above somebody who is involved in this type of stuff,” she said. “It puts myself and my children at risk.”
Another person was also arrested during the search, but their involvement remains unknown.
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