Mpls. drug bust with 4 arrests nets meth haul with street value of $270,000

The four suspects ranged in age from 21 to 61.

September 29, 2016 at 2:20AM

Authorities say they arrested four people suspected of peddling drugs and seized 30 pounds of methamphetamine, an amount that could have fetched more than $270,000 on the streets.

One of the suspected dealers, 61-year-old Macario Millan-Murillo, was arrested Monday as he left a residence in the 200 block of E. Lake Street, police said. He and the other suspects — Jose Cóncepcion Anayo-Ramirez, 42, Leoncio Mendoza-Vargas, 21, and Jaime Suarez Escobar, 42 — each were charged with first-degree drug sales and possession, according to court filings.

Online court records show that Mendoza-Vargas had his bail set at $1 million, while the other three were being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.

Millan-Murillo was arrested near the Lake Street residence; police believe he was leaving the house to sell drugs at an undisclosed location. A search of his vehicle turned up about two pounds of meth in a bag and another 23 pounds stashed elsewhere, police said.

Authorities did not specify what led them to the suspects or whether they were believed to be part of a larger, organized drug ring.

After obtaining a search warrant, authorities arrested the other three suspects at the residence, and seized 5.4 pounds of meth, a .45-caliber Llama handgun cq/gg, drug paraphernalia and $50,000 cash, police said. Escobar later told investigators that he, Anayo-Ramirez and Mendoza-Vargas had driven the vehicle from Arizona, according to police.

All four suspects are expected to make their initial court appearances on Thursday.

Libor Jany • 612-673-4064 • Twitter: @StribJany

about the writer

about the writer

Libor Jany

Reporter

Libor Jany is the Minneapolis crime reporter for the Star Tribune. He joined the newspaper in 2013, after stints in newsrooms in Connecticut, New Jersey, California and Mississippi. He spent his first year working out of the paper's Washington County bureau, focusing on transportation and education issues, before moving to the Dakota County team.

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