FLORENCE COUNTY -- The Florence County Sheriff's Office said it made a huge dent in drug trafficking on Interstate 95 and Interstate 20 this week through Operation Strike Force.
For the eighth year, the sheriff's office pulled together 20 local, state and federal agencies to patrol both interstates looking for drugs.
The result was 1,777 traffic stops.
Those stops led to arrests or citations on a number of offenses.
The biggest find though, was 3,500 oxycodone tablets seized during one traffic stop. The sheriff's office says the pills have an approximate street value of $280,000.
"This area is known as midway. We're midway between the North and the South. You'll be surprised at the exchanges that are made here. The drugs are coming into our county. Just this week alone we had 3,500 oxycontin pills that was coming into Florence County from Florida. Also, there was a large amount of heroin that was in our area as well," said Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone.
During the stops, officers arrested 28 people for possession of marijuana and 14 others for possession of other drugs like methamphetamine and crack cocaine.
The stops also led to 585 speeding tickets, 362 improper lane change violations, 328 following too closely citations, and seven arrests for driving under the influence.
Officers recovered a stolen car, captured two fugitives, recovered two stolen handguns and stolen stamp and coin collections.
Boone pointed out that during the eight years of the operation, there have been no injuries to officers, the public, or the suspects.
