By Steve Klamkin WPRO News

Providence Police labeled a drug investigation centered around the city’s downtown transit hub that resulted in charges against 23 men “Operation Bussed Out”, capping a four-month undercover probe.

One dozen of the 23 had been arrested by Monday morning, and warrants were issued for 11 more, said Police Chief Colonel Hugh Clements, who said drugs were purchased by an undercover officer in and around Kennedy Plaza, the city’s primary bus terminal.

“This, as we all know is an ongoing problem, a phenomena in America with an opioid crisis,” Clements said. “These types of operations are needed every once in a while.”

“All of the suspects have a criminal record,” said Clements, adding that 11 of the suspects are probation violators. He said that over the course of the investigation, undercover officers purchased fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, oxycodone and other pressed pills.

Mayor Jorge Elorza contrasted the damage done by drugs with a murder rate that continues to fall, pointing to most recent statistics from 2017.

“In the entire state, just over 20 deaths by homicide. When you compare that to over 320 deaths by overdose. And so you see in terms of scale the challenge and the scourge that we’re facing,” Elorza said.

Chief Clements said many dealers were mixing often deadly fentanyl with other drugs, leading to overdoses by unsuspecting buyers.

“That’s the concern, where some people who are chronically addicted are ingesting drugs they think are one thing and they’re something else, and they may be a lot more potent than something they’re used to, and that’s why we have overdose deaths,” Clements said. “That’s why these type of operations and these type of arrests are important.”