State Police discuss their efforts to prevent drug trafficking in Western New York

Rochester, New York – To stop the influx of illegal substances into Western New York, the New York State Police are working. This follows the designation of a Venezuelan gang with ties to Rochester as a terrorist group.

Earlier this week, at a press conference, a Texas sheriff displayed a map showing the territory and effects of the “Tren de Aragua,” or TDA, gang. There’s a dot above Western New York on that map. Texas Governor Gregg Abbott has announced plans to form an agency strike team to target the group and to compile a database of known TDA members.

State officers expressed a desire to avoid giving the bad guys any specific information on the group. Police did, however, go over some of the instruments at their disposal to stop drug trafficking.

No single agency is in the lead, according to trooper Lynnea Crane. It’s a cooperative effort involving everyone from the local police department to Drug Enforcement Agency officers. The Postal Service is one important participant you might not anticipate. Every day, they extract a ton of medications and scan shipments.

Like many other agencies, the State Police participates in state-wide task groups and teams that aim to combat drug trafficking. It involves using informants, going undercover, and scouring social media and other internet sources. It’s a continuous process, and in our area, it gets really busy.

We observe a lot of activity, according to Trooper Crane, sitting directly along the I-90 corridor.

“This is very personal to me. Because of this, illegal substances are entering our community and leading to drug addiction, which in turn produces a host of additional problems. We’re really active in this, so we want to make sure that it doesn’t happen and spread to New York State,” the spokesperson stated.

Everything they know is directed toward what Trooper Crane referred to as a fusion center. They acquire as much information as they can about local, national, and international gangs from that information hub. Subsequently, it is distributed to state-wide organizations to assist with both major and minor takedowns.

With the recent large-scale drug bust out of Ontario County, we witnessed this effort in action. Trooper Crane indicated the scale on that bust with certain numerals. About 20 persons are accused of being traffickers:

• 16 pounds of cocaine
• Three pounds of kilo liquid xylazinefea which is a stronger version of fentanyl
• Five pounds of fentanyl
• Hundreds of pills,
• Half a pound of meth
• Over 500 pounds of black market weed a month
• Two pounds of heroin
• Eight guns including a machine gun.