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 in 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.

Global drug links

When federal agents raided the Northfield residence they found two gold-plated firearms with adornments similar to weapons often seized from narco-traffickers. At a Burnsville business the agents seized portraits of the fictional drug trafficker Tony Montana, famously portrayed by Al Pacino in the 1982 movie “Scarface.” Agents reported such “homage items” send a message in drug-dealing and money-laundering gang dens.

Drug raid out of control

The cover for the unannounced federal operation was almost blown when agents attempted to seize evidence at a Minneapolis restaurant in an immigrant neighborhood — Las Cuatros Milpas on East Lake Street. Apparently assuming it was a was another Trump-ordered ICE deportation raid, protesters gathered. A melee followed. Arrested was Isabel Lopez, 27, of St. Paul. Police bodycams show her throwing a softball at the back of a sheriff’s deputy and shoving and kicking federal agents and punching one in the head. A 33-year-old man also was arrested and charged with assaulting a Minneapolis police officer who had been called to the disturbance — even though city police had been kept in the dark about the federal operation. Hennepin County deputies, also blind-sided by the federal operation, arrived to help with crowd control.