Five people were arrested east of Branford on Friday morning on drug-related charges.

BRANFORD — A Suwannee County Drug Task Force investigation east of Branford led to the arrest of five suspects for various drug-related charges Friday morning, according to the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office.

Members of the drug task force with the assistance of the Suwannee County SWAT Team, Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and Columbia County Drug Task Force executed a search warrant in the 21200 block of 25th Road in southeastern Suwannee County, east of Branford, as part of an ongoing investigation into the sale of Methamphetamine, according to Suwannee County Sheriff Sam St. John.

As a result, the SCSO arrested and charged Shelley Whitehead with multiple counts of sale and possession of Methamphetamine, Christopher Murphy with possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell, Alphansa Griffin with possession of Oxycodone, Dustin Morrison with possession of Fentanyl and possession of drug paraphernalia, and Joe Williams with possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia.

St. John said the drug task force had been investigating the house for some time after nearby residents called in complaints. The operation took place once the task force gathered enough information for a search warrant.

“You never know how these things are going to turn out,” St. John said. “We take every precaution, you just never know if there’s going to be just one or two guys or what.”

He said as typical drug busts go this operation was fairly large and the culmination of multiple agencies working together.

According to the SCSO, stolen property from a Columbia County burglary was also found during the search.