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Pike Co Sheriff Warns Against MS-13 Gang “Visit”

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WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio sheriff has issued a safety alert after receiving several reports of gang members planning on “taking out” snitches and spreading heroin doses intended to cause overdoses.

Sheriff Charles Reader says in the alert sent Monday that members of the international criminal gang MS-13 are planning on coming into Pike County this weekend.

Reader says the gang plans to spread “hotshots” of laced heroin that could lead to “an extremely large amount” of overdoses in the county and surrounding areas.

Reader says the information about the gang’s plans was gathered during recent drug-related investigations.

The MS-13 gang started by Salvadorans in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Authorities say MS-13 is active in at least 40 states. In recent weeks, President Trump has been referencing the gang in his speeches. On June 21, at a rally in Iowa, Trump told the crowd, “We are moving them out of the country by the thousands, by the thousands. We’re getting them out, MS-13.”  But according to information provided by the White House, the deportations of MS-13 gang members, so far in 2017, are in the hundreds.