More than $365,000 in drugs headed from Kensington to Philly suburbs seized by investigators

A monthslong investigation targeting the movement of fentanyl between Kensington and the Philadelphia suburbs led to 94 arrests and the seizure of $365,000 in narcotics since September, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office said Monday.

The drug trafficking investigation sought to take down pipelines between the city's drug markets and lower level dealers in the suburbs.

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"Big city problems, as some people say — they are definitely not contained just to the big city," Attorney General Dave Sunday said at a press conference.

In addition to fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that has fueled the nation's overdose epidemic, authorities seized various amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, prescription pills and other narcotics. Investigators also recovered 12 guns.

The investigation was a joint operation between the state and the district attorneys of Montgomery, Bucks and Delaware counties. Philadelphia police also assisted.

"There's drug traffickers that we were able to apprehend that were bringing these dangerous substances into our counties," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said. "There were also stops made of people that were using and people that were endangering the streets while driving under the influence."

Steele said most of the people arrested were involved in transporting or dealing drugs that originated in Philadelphia. He said some of the people arrested for using drugs were diverted to treatment programs with help from the Montgomery County Overdose Response Team.

Sunday said his office has helped remove 50 million doses of fentanyl from Pennsylvania's streets this year, including about 27 million doses Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Due to the ongoing investigation, authorities did not identify any of the people who were arrested during the recent sweeps.

"It is incumbent upon us to do everything in our power to not only attack the supply … but also attack the demand," Sunday said. "That's through helping people get into treatment when it's warranted and when it can be done."

The announcement come on the heels of an FBI operation that led to the indictment last month of 33 people with suspected ties to a drug trafficking hotspot in Kensington. Federal prosecutors said an area on the 3100 block of Weymouth Street has been controlled by gangs for nearly a decade to distribute fentanyl and other narcotics.

Sunday said the escalation of narcotics investigations is part of a wider effort to strengthen collaboration between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to share intelligence on drug trafficking activity.

"It is my expectation that we will continue to make significant progress that increases public safety together as a team," Sunday said.