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CUERO – About half of the 33 people wanted on drug-related charges here were arrested Wednesday night.

Police arrested 17 people and seized five vehicles during the warrant roundup, Chief Glenn Mutchler said. Police had investigated some of the suspects for as long as a year, he said.

The department conducts such roundups yearly, but usually they happen during the day, Mutchler said.

“We thought it would work out better this time at night,” he said. Starting at 8 p.m., 12 officers hunted for suspects in 43 drug-related crimes, he said.

The arrests continued well into Thursday afternoon.

Justice of the Peace Peggy Mayer is expected to arraign many of those arrested today. Police are still compiling a list of the arrested.

One of the challenges in such operations is not letting suspects know they’re about to get nabbed, Mutchler said.

“We did this very quietly last night,” he said. “We stayed off the radio.”

Leslie Wilber is a reporter for the Victoria Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6521 or e-mail her at lwilber@vicad.com or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com