It sounded a little bit like a case of dumb luck.

Butler police nabbed a Pittsburgh teenager last Tuesday with hundreds of bags of heroin and other drugs and hundreds of dollars in cash in his pants pockets.

They arrested Charles S. Freeman, 18, near an apartment building in the 300 block of West Jefferson Street. That’s about two blocks away from the Butler County Courthouse and the prison where Freeman was sent on $150,000 bail.

It’s also about two blocks away from the location where construction is about to begin on the Centre City project, which is hoped to revive Butler’s downtown business district.

The arrest appears to have happened by chance. It began with a check by Butler County probation officers on 53-year-old Steven Riggle and his wife, 54-year-old Elizabeth A. Riggle, who live at the apartment building. Because that apartment building is considered a high-traffic area for drug activity county detectives and city police assisted the probation officers during the check.

Riggle wasn’t home — police believe he ran out the back door along with Freeman and another person when probation officers knocked. But they spotted Freeman nearby and detained him.

And that’s how a routine check by probation officers turned up $8,000 in alleged heroin and other drugs and nearly $500 in cash.

Tuesday’s arrest followed a drug sweep the previous week that targeted 25 suspects, mostly street-level dealers peddling heroin and cocaine. There was another chance arrest during that sweep — a Philadelphia-based alleged supplier of one of the local suspected dealers.

Dumb luck? Probably more than that.

Incoming Mayor Tom Donaldson was elected with a mandate to clean up the drug problem in Butler. That appears to be happening, if the recent rise in drug arrests is any indication.

Aggressive pursuit of that objective — indeed, aggressive pursuit of any goal — tends to make its own opportunities.

And success breeds success.

After last week’s drug sweep across the city and Butler and Center townships, we predicted life would get a little uncomfortable for many in our community. It’s beginning to appear as if the illegal drug trade, and those associated with it, are feeling the most discomfort of all.

The shift in momentum is almost palpable. At this rate, Butler is beginning to cultivate a reputation as a city drug dealers and chronic users should avoid.

That’s our hope — although, we concede, it’s taking more than hope, or dumb luck, to make it happen.