Drug Bust Nets 75 San Diego State Students

In a massive drug bust, police have arrested 96 people in the San Diego area—75 of them students from San Diego State University, law enforcement officials said today.

The undercover investigation—named "Operation Sudden Fall" and joined by federal officials halfway through—was initiated in May 2007 after an SDSU student died of a cocaine overdose. A Mesa College student also died of an accidental overdose at an SDSU frat house late February this year.

Police seized marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy pills, mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamine, prescription drugs, brass knuckles, one shotgun, three semiautomatic pistols, and about $60,000 in cash. Undercover officers conducted more than 130 drug buys in locations like fraternity houses, student parking lots, and dorms.

Eighteen SDSU students were arrested this morning, while the rest have been taken in over the course of the past year. Those arrested include students living in campus housing and fraternities; one student was majoring in criminal justice (arrested on charges of possession of cocaine and two guns), while two others—one getting his master's degree in homeland security and the other working as a campus police community service officer—were arrested on suspicion of selling cocaine.

All arrested students have been suspended from SDSU pending review.