FERRIDAY — A yearlong joint investigation among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies titled “Delta Blues” culminated with 30 arrests Friday afternoon in Ferriday.

The investigation targeted narcotics sales and neighborhood gang activity in the Ferriday area, said Robert King, supervisory senior resident agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Alexandria and Monroe.

Apart from the 30 state and federal arrests made, the investigation led to the seizure of 8 ounces of crack cocaine, a half kilo of powdered cocaine, 20 pounds of marijuana, firearms, currency and three vehicles.

The neighborhood gang investigations targeted a local gang called the Sixth Street Boys based out of Ferriday, King said.

The FBI in partnership with the Safe Streets Task Force in Alexandria, joined forces with state and local law enforcements agencies including the U.S. Marshals, Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office, Concordia Narcotics Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Louisiana State Police Department and Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office to conduct the investigations and make all arrests.

King said the yearlong investigations included keeping constant communication with all agencies involved and a variety of sophisticated police techniques.

Sheriff Randy Maxwell said the operation was a huge success and that he was glad to see longtime dealers off the streets.

“It was a great success and the reason was because of the great cooperation with all of the agencies,” Maxwell said. “We got a lot of the big time players and longtime dealers in the parish.”

While the arrests slowed down the narcotics and gang activity in the parish, Maxwell said that unfortunately the cycle will continue.

“We just have to keep going and work every day because it never ends,” Maxwell said. “It’s truly a sad cancer on our society. It never stops.”