Minnesota heroin crackdown: 65 arrests, $250K in cash seized


  • Article by: PAUL MCENROE , Star Tribune
  • Updated: April 17, 2014 - 5:15 PM


A statewide crackdown on heroin distributors launched this week has resulted in more than 65 arrests and the seizure of more than $250,000 in cash, federal prosecutors and county attorneys said Thursday.

The raids, carried out by federal and state drug agents in the Twin Cities, Duluth and Rochester, mark a new effort to crack down on the operations of Mexican drug cartels, which that have been flooding Minnesota with near-pure heroin for the last four years.

“Today, law enforcement has dealt a significant blow to those who are bringing heroin to Minnesota,” U. S. Attorney Andrew Luger said, reading from a prepared statement at a press conference attended by county attorneys and sheriffs. “Today, we have made it clear to those who want to sell this deadly powder that we will stop them.”

Last year, at least 63 people in the Twin Cities died from heroin overdoses, triple since 2011. In 1999, there were only three such deaths in the metro area. As well, local hospital emergency rooms are continually responding to people suffering heroin overdoses — more than 3,500 in 2011, the latest figures available.

The raids, which began Tuesday and continued through Thursday morning, were directed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The breadth of the operation signals a major policy shift in deciding which drug cases in Minnesota will be tried in federal court.

Beginning in mid-February when he assumed office, Luger made it clear in private conversations to federal prosecutors, county attorneys and drug agents that a statewide, coorinated response on all levels is the only way to effectively compromise drug smuggling operations dominated by the Sinaloa Cartel, based in southwest Mexico.

Luger’s predescessor, Todd Jones, had directed federal prosecutors to concentrate mainly on interstate conspiracy cases, leaving some federal and state drug agents concerned that large-scale drug cases of heroin and methamphetamine were being tried in state courts where sentences are lighter.

“Because of the hard work of the DEA, today’s operation ushers in a new era of cooperation between state, local and federal law enforcement,” Luger said Thursday.

The persons arrested represent a wide range of positions in the spider-web of heroin distribution in the metro area. For example, on Tuesday, agents raided a house in Columbia Heights and found about three-quarters of a pound of heroin and about $15,000 linked to a distributor who was charged in federal court the next day. Prior to the arrest, an informant described the distributor’s direct ties to a Mexican cartel, according to a criminal complaint. The source working with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office said that, prior to cooperating with law enforcement, he would buy about $3,000 worth of heroin every two days from the distributor, according to documents.

Paul McEnroe • 612-673-1745

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