Two Westbrook men were arrested on drug charges when local police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency raided a High Street apartment late Tuesday afternoon.

Joseph Williams, 44, of High Street, was charged with two counts of trafficking cocaine, and Albert Kittrell, 48, of Stroudwater Street, was arrested on several warrant charges, including unlawful possession of scheduled drugs.

Kittrell was at the High Street apartment at the time of the raid, and attempted to obstruct the police from entering.

According to Westbrook Police Chief Bill Baker, the incident indicates that “the dominos in the local drug trade have begun to fall,” and he expects more arrests to follow.

Baker said he considers the local drug trade, which primarily revolves around crack cocaine and heroin, to be a “sizable problem” that is behind other crimes, like theft, in the city. He said he believes it is having a significant adverse affect on the city’s young people, and is “attracting a more violent, more dangerous element to southern Maine that I really think we need to be concerned about.”

He said several other investigations are under way and arrests to come will be “like shooting fish in a barrel.”

Residents with information on drug sales are urged to contact Westbrook Police by calling in a tip to 591-8117, emailing crimetips@westbrook.me.us or sending a text message to 650-9048.

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