900 pounds of meth sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? For the second time this summer, federal authorities in Minnesota have executed a drug bust seizing 900 pounds of meth. Here’s what 630 lbs. of meth looks like in the bed of a Toyota Tacoma pickup.
Please don’t confuse this latest incident with last month’s seizure of 900 pounds of meth from a Burnsville, MN, self-storage facility. You may recall that last month’s 900-lb. bust touched off an anti-ICE mini riot on Lake St. in south Minneapolis.
From this afternoon’s U.S. Attorney’s press release,
Two Men Indicted with Conspiracy to Distribute 900 Pounds of Methamphetamine, One Charged with Illegal Reentry
The two men are Joel Casas-Santiago, 46,
and my namesake, Guillermo Mercado-Chaparro, 44.
Both men made appearances at the Federal Courthouse in downtown St. Paul this afternoon and are now being held in the federal lockup at the Sherburne County, MN, jail.
Both have been charged with conspiracy to distribute meth, and I understand that both are illegal aliens. Guillermo, who has been previously deported from America, is charged with an additional count of re-entry of a removed alien, a felony charge for repeat illegal immigration.
In addition to the 630 pounds in the Toyota, they found another 250 pounds of meth in a Jeep Wrangler. The haul from the Jeep,
That works out to 880 pounds total, which seems like an odd number until you do the metric conversion. It works out to almost exactly 400 kilograms, a unit of measure used in other countries, I’m told.
I know nothing about the world of meth. I have never seen a single episode of Breaking Bad. But, perhaps there is a name for a 400 kg. standard unit of meth, in either English or Spanish.
A quote from the Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson,
This isn’t just another drug bust—it’s one of the largest methamphetamine seizures in Minnesota history. A 900-pound haul like this doesn’t just show intent to distribute. It shows intent to poison entire communities. We will not let Minnesota become a distribution hub for cartel-scale operations. This prosecution is just the beginning.
That man has had a busy week. Earlier, he announced the federal indictment of accused political assassin Vance Boulter. Just yesterday, Thompson was leading a raid on 9 separate addresses associated with an alleged big-dollar Medicaid fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s press release goes on to explain how today’s indictment reflects the ongoing work of the Dept. of Justice, Homeland Security, DEA, FBI, and a long list of state and local law enforcement agencies.
I do like the Trump-inspired code name, “Operation Take Back America.” It has a quality.
[Note: an earlier version of this piece appeared on AmericanExperiment.Org.]
