By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Two men were arrested at a Drummond Street apartment late Tuesday in a police raid that uncovered a pound of marijuana, money and a loaded rifle.

The late-night raid was part of a new police focus on 26 areas of Auburn recently designated as safe zones, neighborhoods surrounding ball fields, parks and playgrounds.

Arrested in the raid were 40-year-old Harry Buck of Turner and Lee Jordan, 57, of 47 Drummond St., the apartment where police say the pot was found. Both men were charged with aggravated drug trafficking.

Late Tuesday night, police and drug agents went to that address with warrants and found a half pound of processed marijuana, $2,400 in cash, and a loaded .32-caliber Winchester rifle, police said. Jordan was arrested at the apartment.

Drug agents who had been keeping the apartment under surveillance later returned to the apartment early Wednesday. Police said it was then that they found Buck coming to the home with a shipment of another half pound of pot.

Police said they found another $800 in cash on Buck and they estimated the combined value of the pot at $5,000 if it had been sold on the street.

Buck and Jordan have each been released from the county jail.

Auburn police said the raid was part of increasing enforcement around the areas of the city known to be frequented by children. The men were within the area known as the Drummond Street Park Safe Zone.

On March 3, at the recommendation of Auburn police Chief Richard Small, the City Council designated 26 neighborhoods as safe zones. As with school zones, anyone caught dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of a safe zone faces stiffer criminal penalties.

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