MBN still investigating pharmacy burglaries

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 31, 2004

CENTREVILLE &045; Agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics are still investigating the February 2003 burglary of Fred’s Pharmacy in Centreville as well as two similar burglaries in Natchez, according to MBN Agent Simone Reeves.

&uot;We don’t have any new leads right now. We did get some fingerprints (in the Centreville burglary), and we’re still waiting for the crime lab to process those,&uot; Reeves said.

Burglaries that occurred at two discount store pharmacies in Natchez just before the Centreville heist also remain unsolved, Reeves said.

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Investigators in the Centreville burglary said theives cut telephone lines to disable the store’s alarm system before peeling back sheet metal siding on one end of the building to enter the store.

A variety of Schedule II narcotics including the powerful painkiller OxyContin was stolen in the Centreville burglary, officers reported.

Reeves said arrests have since been made in similar cases in Walthall County and in Louisiana, but officers have not been able to connect those suspects to the Centreville and Natchez crimes.

&uot;We sent fingerprints to (crime labs) in Louisiana and Mississippi. We were hoping we would get a hit, but it hasn’t happened yet,&uot; Reeves said.

OxyContin contains oxycodone, which is derived from an opium alkaloid and prescribed to control moderate to severe pain. The drug can be highly addictive.