Police on Monday began rounding up 52 people indicted on drug charges in Harlan County.
Most of the pills bought undercover during the case came from Florida, according to a news release from Operation UNITE, which conducted the investigation.
It has become routine in recent years for people from Eastern Kentucky to travel to Florida to get prescriptions for pain pills, then sell or abuse the pills at home.
The charges stem from a yearlong investigation that dealt primarily with the sale of the drugs OxyContin, Suboxone and hydrocodone.
Most of those wanted in the case live in the area of Cumberland, Benham and Lynch, according to the news release.
UNITE detectives, assisted by officers from seven other agencies, had arrested 30 of the 52 people charged by mid-afternoon. Police were searching for the other suspects.
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