Big DEA raid nabs two in Mattawa

MATTAWA - Two Mattawa residents were arrested at around 3 a.m. on July 1 by a joint law enforcement round-up operation led by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

There may have been other arrests, Mattawa Police Chief John Turley said, but he was not aware of any. The two arrested had not been identified for Turley as of Tuesday morning.

"This was a DEA operation," Turley said. "They wrote the reports. They'll be sending out the press releases."

Turley's department learned of the planned drug raid just before it was executed. The DEA is not required to apprise local jurisdictions of its plans.

"They gave us a courtesy call," Turley said. "All we did was show them where to go and sat back and observed their work."

The raid was executed in several locations, including rural Quincy, Schawana, Beverly and George. The Mattawa locations were 401 and 403 Seventh St. The arrested persons were transported to Yakima.

Turley believes the arrested persons are low-level dealers. He said they were where the DEA expected them to be when the agents arrived.

The operation was generated and directed by the Yakima County DEA. It was backed the Grant County INET, the Dept. of Homeland Security and the Immigration & Customs Enforcement.