Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) personnel have joined a Kansas City-area task force targeting drug traffickers and violent criminals.
U.S. Attorneys for the districts of Kansas and western Missouri said the Kansas City Metro Strike Force is a cooperative Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement task force (OCDETF) operating under the Department of Justice.
“The Strike Force already is conducting investigations and filing charges against the criminals who are poisoning our community with drugs and violence,” Stephen McAllister, U.S. Attorney, District of Kansas, said. “Crime does not stop at the state line, and neither does the Strike Force.”
The work will involve targeting drug trafficking organizations making the streets of Kansas City more violent by importing large quantities of methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and other drugs from Mexico and elsewhere.
In addition to ICE, officials said the effort involves, among other agencies, the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and police departments from both sides of Kansas City (Kansas and Missouri); the Jackson County (Missouri) Drug Task Force; the U.S. Marshals Service; ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations; and the Internal Revenue Service.
“This new Strike Force presents a united front against drug trafficking and violent crime throughout the metropolitan area,” said Tim Garrison, U.S. Attorney, Western District of Missouri. “We are marshaling agents and officers from both Missouri and Kansas under the same roof and equipping them with additional investigative resources to better protect our community from the violent scourge of drug trafficking.”