The Jim Thorpe Police Department and the Lehighton Borough Police Department joined forces with the Drug Enforcement Administration's Allentown Resident Office to target heroin traffickers operating in Jim Thorpe.

On Sept. 26 and Sept. 28, the DEA and the police departments conducted a joint operation that led to the arrest of 10 people on Pennsylvania state drug charges, the DEA announced Tuesday.About 1,700 bags of alleged heroin, approximately 10 grams of alleged cocaine, various prescription pills, one handgun, and approximately $1,000 in cash were seized."Operations like this where the DEA can partner with local law enforcement agencies in areas such as Jim Thorpe and Lehighton Borough are part of the DEA's overall strategy in combating the heroin epidemic in communities across Pennsylvania," said Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle."This is just another example of how heroin, and a significant amount of it at that, affects every community regardless of size and location.""Carbon County is pleased to have the cooperative effort of the DEA to combat our local drug problems. We appreciated their sharing their time and resources, which resulted in a successful operation," said Carbon County District Attorney Jean Engler, whose office will be prosecuting the people arrested under this operation.Heroin abuse has become an epidemic across the country especially among younger people, many of whom see it as a cheaper alternative to abusing prescription drugs. According to data from the Carbon County Coroner's Office, there were 11 drug overdose deaths in Carbon County in 2014; eight of those deaths resulted from heroin.Numerous heroin overdoses across the country have been attributed to batches of heroin laced with fentanyl, which is a highly potent opioid.In 2013 alone, more than 8,200 people died from heroin overdoses in the United States."The way we solve many of our community-related crimes is when we work multi-jurisdiction cases like this, because our heroin dealers travel to neighboring towns to distribute their drugs," said Lehighton Chief Brian Biechy."This was a great joint effort between all of the agencies involved," Jim Thorpe Police Chief Joseph Schatz said.Authorities have not yet released the names of those charged.