Star Tribune
DEA reports boom in fentanyl pill seizures in Minnesota for 2023
Minnesota law enforcement reported the biggest rise in fentanyl pill seizures among the five Midwestern states in its federal field division last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday.
Seizures of the potentially deadly opiate, increasingly found pressed into counterfeit pills, jumped 127% in the state up from 2022 as investigators recovered more than 417,000 pills.
That’s more than Iowa, both the Dakotas and Nebraska — Minnesota’s fellow offices within the DEA’s Omaha-headquartered division. The increase reflected a trend in which the DEA said the five states recorded an 83% spike in fentanyl pill seizures.
The DEA said law enforcement seized more than 77 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl nationally last year.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced,” DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Steven T. Bell said. “The DEA Omaha Division covers a vast expanse of land containing urban, suburban and rural communities. Sadly, none of these communities are exempt from the tragic consequences that can come from experimenting with or using fentanyl. This drug is potentially lethal in such a small amount, that it can fit on the tip of a pencil. We’re seeing it in both pill and powder form all across our Division.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota recently announced the biggest fentanyl bust in state history when it rolled out an indictment against six people accused of trafficking hundreds of thousands of pills from Arizona up north, using the mail to send toy animals stuffed with pills in an alleged conspiracy dating back to 2022.
Minnesota recorded the largest increase in pill seizures, with investigators taking off more than 417,000 pills for a 127 percent increase over 2022 totals. Iowa followed suit noting a 105 percent increase over its 2022 pill seizures, with more than 141,000 pills seized in 2023. North Dakota pill seizures increased nearly 50 percent while Nebraska and South Dakota numbers declined.
Law enforcement officials say fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 through 45. And it’s reportedly growing more potent. Last year, DEA lab testing found that 7 out of 10 pills tested contained a possible deadly dose of fentanyl, which the DEA defines as two milligrams. That rate was at 40% just two years prior and 60% in 2022.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
