LINDEN – A Monday morning round up by the 17th Judicial Circuit resulted in the arrest of 16 in the Linden area.

Officers with the task force were joined by officers from the 4th Judicial Circuit Task Force, the Linden, Demopolis and York police departments and Marengo County Sheriff’s Office in the execution of two search warrants in the pre-dawn hours Monday.

The first warrant, executed at 704 Martin Luther King resulted in the rest of Otis Brown and his son, “Cooter.” Crack cocaine and marijuana were seized from the home.

The second arrest came at 811 Gardner Street. McKinley Adams was arrested and found in possession of 18 bags of marijuana.

Between 5 and 8:30 a.m. at least 10 others were arrested on various drug distribution charges. Two additional arrests were made Tuesday and others could follow.

Linden Police Chief Scott McClure said he requested the aid of the task force approximately four months ago after receiving numerous complaints.

The task force immediately began an investigation which led to Monday’s operation.

“Robert Austin, who led working this case, did an exceptional job,” McClure noted. “Just outstanding.”

Task force commander Clint Sumlin said that Austin was undercover in and around Linden for much of the four-month-long investigation.

District Attorney Greg Griggers who oversees the task force said this was the largest operation the task force had undertaken since it launched in August. In all, the task force has more than 200 active drug cases across the circuit.

“I hope this demonstrates that the drug task force is successful,” Griggers said, “and it’s not been around all that long. It’s only going to get better.”