Operation Swift Action

Dozens of drug suspects ended upin the Etowah County Jail Tuesday, after being surprised by drug agents and warrants.

Investigators named the roundup, "Operation Swift Action."

They began serving charges, indictments and a search warrant at daybreak.

Agents with the county's drug task force set out to serve more than a hundred warrants on some 64 suspects.

Authorities say many of the charges were for distribution and trafficking, and say the raid will put a big dent in Etowah County's drug trade for awhile.

Drug Enforcement Unit agents were joined by Gadsden police officers and Etowah county deputies.

Many of the arrests were related to one particular drug: heroin, a growing problem in Etowah County.

Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp said that Heroin has become a very prolific drug in northeast Alabama. Savage said The number of overdoses, both injury-wise and death-wise, is really becoming an issue.

Savage says 36 of the 64 suspects were arrested tuesday, with six more people arrested who weren't on the warrant list.

Savage says that's a higher number than usual. He expected up to ten to turn themselves in, as is often the case in these quarterly raids.