Oak Island undercover drug investigation - Pot, cocaine, pills seized | StarNewsOnline.com

Oak Island undercover drug investigation - Pot, cocaine, pills seized | StarNewsOnline.com: "Williams' day-time appearance was part of a false identity he adopted as an undercover investigator for the Oak Island Police Department. His assignment: infiltrate Oak Island's street-level drug world so authorities could strike at traffickers peddling illicit substances in this small, oceanfront community in Brunswick County.
'With his experience, he was able to get in and become a part of the community and make friends and buy what he needed to buy,' Oak Island Police Chief Van Eddinger said about Williams, a 17-year veteran of law enforcement, at a press conference Wednesday.
The operation was kept highly confidential, unknown to all but three members of the 25-officer Oak Island Police Department, said Sgt. Tony Burke.
Burke said he acted as Williams' liaison with authorities and often ran surveillance on the undercover agent's controlled drug purchases.
'The first few were nerve-racking,' Williams said of the drug purchases. 'You never know when you go to that one if a person is going to recognize you.'
Williams checked in daily with Burke, sometimes multiple times per day, the sergeant said.
'It was a very quiet operation by design,' Burke said of the operation, 'both for safety's sake and success.'
The operation finally ended after 21 months, when on Tuesday multiple local, state and federal agencies orchestrated a series of arrests, searches and seizures at suspects' locations in Oak Island, Boiling Spring Lakes, Southport and the Supply area."