WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today announced that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Office of Justice Services (OJS) Division of Drug Enforcement (DDE) worked in successful cooperation with the Caddo County Okla. Sheriff’s Office, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN), and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to halt a drug operation discovered by a lease holder looking for lost livestock. The land being leased is a Kiowa tribal member’s allotment near Carnegie, Okla. This collaborative effort between the BIA OJS-DDE in conjunction with its other law enforcement partners took place earlier this month and ended with the seizure and dismantling of a marijuana operation, as well as the arrest of a suspect.
“Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement personnel play a vital role in the detection, investigation and prosecution of drug crimes both within Indian Country and across the United States,” said Echo Hawk. “I congratulate BIA’s Division of Drug Enforcement, the sheriff’s deputies and the other law enforcement officers who contributed to successfully stopping this drug operation.”
Based on information provided by the Caddo County Sheriff’s Office they received a tip that marijuana was being cultivated on federal Indian trust land near Carnegie. This led to a follow up reconnaissance by a BIA Special Agent (SA) on August 10, 2010. On August 11, 2010, the BIA SA, with the assistance of OBN agents, Caddo County Sheriff’s officers, and Oklahoma Highway patrolmen, successfully eradicated the marijuana crop, dismantled the cultivation operation and apprehended one of two suspects.
The BIA Office of Justice Services is responsible for managing the Bureau’s law enforcement, detention facilities and tribal courts programs, either directly in tribal communities or by funding tribally administered programs through contract and grants.
