DRUG TRAFFICKING Dealers go south to Ohio River

Police said that local cocaine dealers in southern Ohio call Columbus.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Some city crack dealers are plying their trade in southern Ohio where the drug is scarce and the retail market is lucrative, police say.
Columbus dealers have hit the road before, but now they are spreading down to Portsmouth and the Ohio River.
"I think this is just the natural progression of Columbus gangs," Pat Brooks, a Columbus police officer told the Columbus Dispatch for a story Sunday. "They are getting older now, and they are looking for newer markets. We're really seeing them spreading throughout the state, especially south."
Getting the drug to Portsmouth has been a hazardous journey down U.S. 23 for the dealers. Sweeps by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers based in Scioto County have paid dividends over the last year and a half.
Three four-day sweeps by troopers netted 119 drug cases, 97 felony arrests, 31 pounds of marijuana, nearly 5 pounds of cocaine and more than a pound of crack.
Even for veteran troopers, the raw numbers of drugs and dealers were staggering, they said.
"The first time we turned our guys loose, we had three people who were wanted on the berm in seven minutes," said Lt. Paul Pride, commander of the Jackson post.
"In the first 30 minutes, we had a traffic stop involving one of the key players in the drug-trafficking trade who had seven ounces of crack and $7,000 cash on him."
'Like old home week'
Columbus police were stunned by a 2004 visit to a now-closed bar in one of Portsmouth's most notorious neighborhoods.
Brooks, who tracks the worst criminals in Columbus, quickly realized that the word on the streets was true. It was open season in Portsmouth for Columbus crack dealers.
"It was like old home week," Brooks said. "It was ridiculous. We had some of our worst going down there."
Portsmouth police raided it in March and later got it declared a public nuisance and shut it down.
Eight southern Ohio counties formed a drug pipeline task force several years ago.
"I've had calls from police departments as small as four officers," Brooks said. "[U.S.] 23 is just an easy shot."
Columbus dealers arrived in the early '90s, but the number of Franklin County residents arrested for felony drug offenses in Portsmouth increased sharply in recent years. The city's two-man narcotics unit went from arresting a handful of Columbus-area dealers in 2003 to 55 felony arrests of Franklin County residents for possession or drug trafficking in 2004.
The number dipped to 31 last year, but the figure doesn't reflect arrests made by the town's patrol units.
Dealers call Columbus
Though local dealers dabble in methamphetamine or marijuana, cocaine users call Columbus, police said.
"We're primarily talking about Columbus dealers when we're talking about the powdered cocaine and crack-cocaine trade in this county," said Scioto County Prosecutor Mark Kuhn.
High demand for what little cocaine exists in southern Ohio draws the dealers. A rock of crack that sells for $20 in Columbus goes for $40 in Portsmouth.
The easy money has created an unusual truce among Columbus drug dealers affiliated with rival gangs.
"We've been told that Portsmouth is like the United Nations for gang members," said narcotics-squad investigator Todd Bryant. "Down here, they don't fight over the deals. There is so much money to be made that it's open territory."