District Attorney Jim Martin announced Friday that Lehigh County has been designated as a member of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program within the Liberty Mid-Atlantic region.

Joining with the program will provide benefits in investigative case support, information sharing and specialized training opportunities to help target the influx of drug activity entering the region from among other places, New York and New Jersey; as well as enhance the region’s capacity to thwart drug trafficking and money laundering operations.

The designation will give additional resources to Lehigh County to be deployed to continue the effort to reduce drug production, drug trafficking and drug-related deaths.

Lehigh County will now join other Pennsylvania counties in the program including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia.

Lehigh County was designated after providing evidence to demonstrate the following:

• The area is a significant center of illegal drug production, manufacturing, importation or distribution;

• State, local and other law enforcement agencies have committed resources to respond to the drug trafficking problem in the area, thereby indicating a determination to respond aggressively to the problem;

• Drug-related activities in the area have a significant, harmful impact in the area and other areas of the country; and

• A significant increase in federal resources is necessary to respond adequately to drug-related activities in the area.

Lehigh County’s proximity to New York City, northern New Jersey and Philadelphia makes it a prime location for drug trafficking and has witnessed an influx of drug and violent activity from New York and New Jersey as well as drug-related deaths fueled by the opioid crisis and fentanyl, which is in many illegal drugs being sold on the street.

Drug-trafficking organizations recognize this and have partnered with gangs operating in Lehigh County and use those alliances to expand drug distribution and develop deeper criminal networks that also engage in gun and sex trafficking.

Based on local intelligence and investigative findings, kilogram quantities of heroin/fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine are being supplied by Mexican drug trafficking organizations into the region.

The violence and availability of fentanyl and other illegal substances that Lehigh County law enforcement has encountered over the past several years have created a public safety and public health crisis. Lehigh County has the third highest percentage of its population affected by drug-related deaths in the Commonwealth.

The combination of drug trafficking, the prevalence of fentanyl, drug-related deaths and increased violence requires more resources for law enforcement to properly address and the program will help accomplish that.