11 charged in Twin Cities kidnapping and drug trafficking conspiracy, attorney's office says
Eleven people in a drug trafficking group linked to a Mexican cartel are facing charges in connection with a drug trafficking and kidnapping conspiracy in the Twin Cities, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota.
At least seven people are each charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Four of those seven people are charged with conspiracy to kidnap, and two of those seven people are charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, federal officials say.
Charges against four other people are unknown.
The attorney's office, citing an indictment, said the group conspired between July 2023 and January 2025 to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it. Leaders of the group arranged for large quantities of the drug to be delivered by mail and driven by cars and trucks from Mexico to the Twin Cities area.
People in Minnesota would then break large quantities of methamphetamine into smaller quantities and sell it to customers throughout the Twin Cities metro, officials said.
In January 2025, someone owed a DTO leader a "substantial amount of money," which they couldn't pay for. Four of the people charged lured the person who owed money to a location in St. Paul, Minnesota, kidnapped them, chained them to a pole and held them against their will, according to the attorney's office.
"This case highlights the inherent danger that transnational drug cartels bring to our country," Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick said.
