COTTONWOOD, Minn. — A search warrant executed Thursday led gang and drug task force members in southwestern Minnesota to a drug lab they don't see very often.
The CEE-VI Drug and Gang Task Force, based out of Willmar, Minnesota, searched a residence near the town of Cottonwood and discovered a liquid methamphetamine lab, and recovered more than three-and-a-half pounds of meth in various forms of conversion, most of it ready for sale.
Sgt. Ross Ardoff, commander of the unit, says liquid conversion labs receive the drug in liquid form and then process it down to crystals, as methamphetamine is most often ingested. "It's something we haven't come across here," Ardoff said, explaining that the conversion labs are usually found in Mexico where a large volume of meth that comes into the U.S. is processed.
Ardoff says at current prices the drugs confiscated were worth more than $55,000 on the street. Task force members also found a Molotov cocktail-like device that was disposed of by the Bloomington Bomb Squad.
One person potentially linked to the operation is already jailed on other charges, and Ardoff doesn't know if anyone else will be arrested in the case.
While opioids are the focus of anti-drug efforts in Minnesota's larger communities, meth remains the number one problem in many areas of greater Minnesota. Sgt. Ardoff estimates that the drug accounts for about 80% of the task force's activities. "Meth is king out here," he says. "We deal with meth-related incidents here every day."
More than any other drug, law enforcement says meth takes over a user's life. They will commit petty crimes like burglary, theft and other property offenses to get money to buy more drugs.
