Local police officers assist drug bust in Chicago

Officers from the Parke County Sheriff's department, as a part of a free narcotics training in Chicago, helped to recover over 3.25 million dollars worth of cocaine and over 1 million dollars of cash last week.

Last week, Detective Sergeant Justin Cole and Deputy Brad McNeill were sent to Chicago to participate in a free narcotics related training.  This investigation was headed by another officer, who is also a part-time Parke County redisdent, but he requested that his identity not be release due to safety and security reasons.

During the visit, the two officers assisted in a joint and federal investigation into the operations of an International Drug Trafficking Organization.

On July 20, the investigation recovered $1,095,633 in cash and several kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of $3,270,500.

The investigation revealed that the origin of the cocaine was of the Sinaloa Cartel and was set to be distributed across Indiana and Illinois.

The money will be seized federally through the Equitable Sharing Program. Paperwork has been submitted for the Parke County Sheriff’s Office to receive a portion of the recovered money.