MPD Helps Foil Stolen Electronics-For-Meth Pipeline
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A drug pipeline that supplied meth from the Twin Cities to North Dakota has shut down.
Strangely enough, it all started with electronics stolen from homes and businesses in Grand Forks and Twin Cities suburbs.
The investigation began in North Dakota, according to Minneapolis Police Sgt. Scott Downing.
"Grand Forks, North Dakota and the University of North Dakota made a connection to a series of burglaries out there being committed by the same group of individuals," Downing said.
Laptops, computers and even large projectors were taken from campus.
Investigators there linked the burglaries to eBay, where the stolen merchandise was being sold. The account holder is from south Minneapolis.
"Investigators of the Fifth Precinct here, we conducted a search warrant on their behalf and recovered some of the items that they were looking for," Downing said.
He says investigators did more digging and realized this operation involved more than just stealing and re-selling electronics.
"It was actually connected to a group of individuals selling narcotics," Downing said. "Specifically they were trading the items for methamphetamine, which they were transporting back up to North Dakota and selling it."
Investigators served another search warrant that turned up more than $40,000 in electronics.
The burglaries were not just in North Dakota; homes and businesses in Twin Cities' suburbs like Maple Grove were also hit.
What was stolen was traded for drugs.
"It was roughly anywhere between $200 to $400 worth of methamphetamine that they were receiving in exchange for the stolen computers and laptops and such that they were bringing down," Downing said. "The resale value of methamphetamine up in the North Dakota area is two to three times the value of what it is being currently sold for here in Minneapolis."
Not only did police slow down burglaries in two states, they were also vital in shutting down a drug pipeline that went from the Twin Cities to North Dakota.
"If the preliminary information that we have is any indication, he was definitely involved in a lot of stuff, and hopefully this will help slow it down a little bit," Downing said.
Police have not identified the man they think traded the stolen electronics for drugs.
He may face federal drug charges for distributing narcotics across state lines.
