80 people have been indicted and 45 of them were arrested on weapons and drug trafficking charges, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Little Rock.

An investigative focus on the pipeline of drugs and firearms between Pine Bluff and Little Rock resulted in the indictment of those 80 individuals.

All 80 of these individuals were charged with various federal firearms and drug trafficking charges in multiple indictments that were unsealed Wednesday afternoon.

According to the press release, two FBI investigations into gang violence and drug trafficking and a separate Drug Enforcement Administration investigation uncovered methamphetamine and fentanyl being mailed from California into Arkansas and distributed in Little Rock, Pine Bluff, and Houston.

Out of the three operations, two of the FBI operations were each focused on a rival gang, created to address violence and drug trafficking in the corridor between Pine Bluff and Little Rock.

The investigations focused on rival gangs responsible for violence throughout central Arkansas.

One operation was focused on the EBK or Every Body Killas gang resulting in the indictment of 35 defendants.

The second investigation focused on the Loady Murder Mobb gang and resulted in the indictment of 26 defendants.

Three more defendants, Quincy Martez Chambers, D’eandreian Devonte Meadows, and Joseph Riggins, Jr., are charged separately in stand-alone indictments. Three defendants are named in multiple indictments.

In March 2021, the FBI’s GETROCK Task Force obtained a wiretap and used a total of twelve wiretaps through June 2022 as a source of real-time information to prevent violence in Pine Bluff, Little Rock, and other communities throughout the state.

Law enforcement discovered that the gangs were funding their violent activity mainly through the sale of large quantities of high-grade marijuana.

The investigation revealed drug trafficking and travel between Arkansas, Texas, California, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.

A third operation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration began in August 2021.

The DEA and the North Little Rock Police Department identified street-level methamphetamine and fentanyl dealers in central Arkansas who were connected to the same source of supply.

The investigation revealed that drugs were being mailed into Arkansas from California and shipments included kilogram quantities of methamphetamine and thousands of pressed fentanyl pills. They then were distributed to individuals in Little Rock and Pine Bluff as well as Houston, Texas.

This investigation led to the indictment of 18 defendants, Manuel Taylor was charged in a separate indictment.

Early Wednesday morning law enforcement began searching for 72 suspects, all of them were indicted for federal gun and drug trafficking crimes.

In October 2020, Pine Bluff Police Detective Kevin Collins was shot and killed while serving an arrest warrant on an EBK associated wanted for murder in Georgia. Collins had assisted the FBI with intelligence related to the criminal activity of these gangs, as well as surveillance, interviews, and arrests of individuals responsible for criminal activity in Pine Bluff.

Collins was specifically mentioned during the press conference announcing the arrests.

Of the 80 defendants indicted in the three investigations, eight of those were already in custody when this morning’s roundup began.

The number and cost of items seized in total are $951,000 in cash, 13.5 pounds of meth, 1.2 kilos of powder fentanyl, 716 fentanyl pills, 288 pounds of marijuana, 18 ounces of cocaine, 4 ounces of crack cocaine, 56 firearms, and $428,000 in jewelry.

27 fugitives remain after this morning’s arrest and most of the defendants who were arrested this morning will appear at a later date for arraignment before United States Magistrate Judge Joe J. Volpe.

The FBI conducted its operations with assistance from Arkansas State Police, Arkansas Department of Community Corrections, Little Rock Police Department, North Little Rock Police Department, Pine Bluff Police Department, and Jonesboro Police Department. FBI’s GETROCK Task Force was formed in 2017 in response to the escalation in gang and gun violence in Little Rock. The unit’s investigations and operations are coordinated out of FBI Little Rock’s field office, and GETROCK continues to serve as the clearinghouse for gang-related law enforcement activity in Central Arkansas. Additional support was provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Homeland Security Investigations; United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); Arkansas National Guard Counterdrug Joint Task Force; and the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory. These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Julie Peters and Amanda Fields with assistance from Cameron McCree.