Nine people have been arrested in a co-ordinated police sting after a nine-month investigation into the trafficking of methamphetamine in the South Australian city of Murray Bridge.
Police will alleged eight of the alleged offenders — seven men and one woman — have been trafficking methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, in the Murray Bridge area.
The ninth arrest was a 34-year-old Murray Bridge woman who has been charged with a firearm offence.
All the accused are expected to be granted police bail and will appear in court at a later date.
Detective Chief Inspector Tony Crameri, the officer-in-charge of the Drug and Organised Crime Task Force, said the arrests were made as part of the force's overarching methamphetamine strategy, known as Operation ATLAS.
"Methylamphetamine has a damaging impact upon our community, particularly in regards to health and law and order," he said.
"The harms associated with illicit drug use, including ice, are often magnified in rural and isolated communities."
Police revealed the extent of the city's ice scourge in February, after searching dozens of squalid homes during a manhunt for Travis Kirchner, who is now awaiting sentencing for murdering Murray Bridge woman Sally Rothe.
At the time of the search, Superintendent James Blandford said officers had long been aware of the region's significant drug issues, but came across homes they had no idea about.
"What we found was a really disturbing level of squalor and lifestyles well below what you would consider Australia, as a free and rich country, should actually be tolerating," he said.
"A lot of these families and a lot of children within it just thought this was normal."
