BURNSVILLE, Minn. — Two weeks ago — on May 30, to be precise — federal agents raided a raided a storage unit in this south Minneapolis suburb and discovered more than 900 pounds of methamphetamine. The meth, in vials in crystalized form, had a street value estimated at $22 million to $25 million. It was a gigantic and certainly a newsworthy cache, but the agents whispered nary a word publicly. The agents instead took clues from the storage unit to obtain more search warrants and staged seven other drug raids and netted more meth. Those raids were simultaneous at 6 a.m., June 3, in Bloomington, Burnsville, Inver Grove Heights, Lakeville, Minneapolis and 30 miles away Northfield. Some details remain sealed by a judge, but the indictments, which are public documents, refer to a “large and ongoing investigation” into drug trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking and illegal firearms trading by a criminal gang with ties to transnational criminal organizations.
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