'Operation Clean Sweep' disrupts drug pipeline from Philadelphia to suburbs, according to officials

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, along with District Attorneys Kevin Steele (Montgomery County), Jennifer Schorn (Bucks County), and Jack Stollsteimer (Delaware County), announced the results of Operation Clean Sweep, a large-scale law enforcement effort aimed at cutting off drug pipelines flowing from Philadelphia into the surrounding suburban counties.

The two-phase operation, conducted in September and October, led to nearly 100 arrests, the seizure of 12 illegal firearms, and narcotics valued at over $365,000, including fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, PCP, oxycodone, and marijuana.

Officials said the operation focused on disrupting the flow of drugs from Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood into Montgomery, Bucks, and Delaware counties, where overdoses and trafficking have increasingly crossed municipal borders. Local police from Abington, Cheltenham, Upper Moreland, Upper Merion, Whitemarsh, and Lower Moreland Townships were among the many departments that participated.

Attorney General Sunday said the collaboration “will make communities safer with arrests of dozens of drug traffickers and seizures of firearms and deadly poisons that are not contained by municipal borders.”

Montgomery County DA Kevin Steele emphasized that suburban communities are part of the same problem. “Drug traffickers and addicted individuals don’t recognize county boundaries,” he said. “We worked hand-in-hand to interrupt that flow of illegal drugs and hold people accountable.”

The Montgomery County Overdose Response Team (MCORT) also participated, helping connect non-trafficking drug users to treatment resources.

Bucks County DA Jen Schorn called the operation a “game changer,” saying it shows that “we are stronger when we work together.”

In total, Operation Clean Sweep brought together the Office of Attorney General, county detective bureaus, Pennsylvania State Police, Philadelphia Police, and more than a dozen suburban police departments to curb drug trafficking routes stretching from the city into the region’s communities.