Police break up $1.7 million drug-trafficking ring, seize 77 guns

An investigation originated by KCPD’s Drug Enforcement Unit in conjunction with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has led to the recovery of 77 guns, large amounts of meth and the federal indictment of 11 people.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Missouri announced Monday that 11 defendants participated in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin in a money-laundering conspiracy from Jan. 1, 2017, to Dec. 12, 2019. The drug trafficking was estimated to have generated $1.7 million in illegal proceeds.

Police seized 77 firearms during the course of the investigation – 69 from the home of one man. Members of the drug-trafficking ring have been involved in multiple shootings and have fled from police. At the end of one pursuit, police arrested a man hiding in a trash bin with two grams of meth, a firearm magazine and $1,096.

A search warrant that police executed at the home of one of the central players in the ring on Dec. 2, 2019, uncovered more than a kilogram of meth hidden in a large metal trash can full of dog food as well as four firearms, a World War II-era gas grenade, multiple packages of marijuana and more than $2,000. An earlier search warrant at the same home on Feb. 22, 2019, led to officers recovering 45 firearms, more than three kilograms of methamphetamine and approximately $66,000, according to the U.S. Attorney.

KCPD and the DEA were the lead agencies on the investigation and were assisted by the Clay County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Jackson County Drug Task Force, the Buchanan County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force, and IRS-Criminal Investigation.