Warrants offer peek inside drug ring

July 22, 2008 04:27 pm

— OTTUMWA — Warrants tied to last Friday's drug raids in Ottumwa say the organization was involved in illegal gun sales in addition to cocaine and marijuana.
Authorities previously said the raid was aimed at a cocaine ring, but court documents show the concerns went much deeper. They also give a sense of the scale of the ring, which authorities said imported "multi-pound quantities of cocaine from the Chicago, Illinois area to Wapello County, Iowa." Sales were to both drug users and a network of distributors.
Undercover purchases of cocaine took place in May and June of this year. Authorities also say they managed to purchase handguns on two occasions.
The 10 defendants in the case face federal charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The warrants raise the question of whether those charges could increase to cover additional accusations. A critical hearing at the federal courthouse in Des Moines is scheduled for tomorrow.