AUBURN – Nearly a hundred people were arrested over the past two days by drug agents who swept across the state in operation designed to illuminate the work of police and drug investigators.

Four of those arrested are from Auburn and five are from Rumford. Another three list Mexico as home. A dozen people were arrested in Portland.

Between Wednesday and Thursday, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency with assistance from state, county and local law enforcement arrested 94 people.

Names of suspects were not released on Thursday.

Drugs and cash were seized. The effort was part of a national drug enforcement operation called Operation Byrne Blitz. The operation’s aim was to highlight what drug enforcement task forces do in a day, said MDEA Director Roy E. McKinney.

The operation was conducted to draw attention to the work that MDEA does as a statewide task force and the crippling effect that federal funding cuts will have on efforts to disrupt drug dealing and reduce the supply.

The overall operation brought to a close investigations that were coordinated by the statewide task force, with drug purchases by undercover operatives.

According to McKinney, the operation yielded the seizure of 5.5 grams of crack cocaine, 8 grams of powder cocaine, 5 grams of heroin, one methamphetamine tablet, 61 illegal possessed narcotic prescription pills, four LSD tablets, and 1.8 pounds of marijuana, one vehicle and $13,350 in cash.

The communities where three or more arrests were made include: Auburn, Bangor, Damariscotta, Jefferson, Mexico, Portland, Rumford, Sanford, Westbrook and Windham.

“The MDEA is committed to aggressively enforcing Maine’s drug laws,” McKinney said. “Maine’s crime rate would plummet if illicit drugs were totally eliminated. The sale and use of drugs affects every Maine community. Drugs ruin people’s lives and bring crime and violence into our communities.

“Unfortunately, many more illegal drugs go undetected in our communities, not because of a lack of effort, but because of fewer resources for drug task force operations,” McKinney said. “Anyone who knows a drug addict can see the terrible toll it takes on the user and their family. Maine’s accidental drug deaths have gone from 24 a year in the late 1990s to over 160 per year.”

The Byrne-JAG (Justice Assistance Grant) program funds criminal justice programs in every state and territory, including multi-jurisdictional drug enforcement, treatment interventions, police training, technology improvements, crime prevention programs, and crime victims’ assistance programs.

Byrne-JAG is the only source of funding available for multi-jurisdictional drug enforcement. Efforts are underway to try to restore $490 million in Byrne-JAG funding.

“Without restoration of the Byrne-JAG funding, the MDEA will lose 13 task force officers – more than a third of its assigned officers, the Attorney General will lose all six assistants tasked with prosecuting drug cases and devastate drug enforcement efforts in Maine,” McKinney said.

In 2007, the MDEA initiated 992 investigations with 640 arrests and 134 search warrants seizing firearms and large amounts of drugs. The MDEA assisted other departments with another 442 investigations.