More arrested on drug charges

The Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department arrested five people on drug related charges this past week.

According to a news release a 37-year-old Backus man, a 43-year-old Backus woman and a 22-year-old Brainerd man were arrested Monday night for manufacturing methamphetamines at a residence in Gail Lake Township in the northwest corner of Crow Wing County.

Chief Deputy Dan Gottsch was unsure of the amount of methamphetamines, but said it wasn't much. He said there was a large amount of drug manufacturing equipment and paraphernalia seized.

The same news release reports that law enforcement officers also made two more drug arrests Wednesday at a residence north of Brainerd.

According to the news release, the Crow Wing County Tactical Team entered the house as a high risk entry. Arrested were a 43-year-old man and a 49-year-old man, both of Brainerd, for possession of methamphetamines and marijuana.

Gottsch said normally the Tactical Team is not used for entry, but it was reported that the two men had loaded firearms at the premises, making the entry high risk. The firearms were seized during the arrest.

The arrests were the result of two separate search warrants executed by Crow Wing County, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Net VI Drug Task Force.

Though not directly related Gottsch said the recent string of drug arrests are connected in that the drug market in Crow Wing County is not isolated. Most of the people involved know each other.

"In the past few weeks we've been seeing connected information from one arrest to the other," Gottsch said. "We expect each arrest to precipitate more arrests."

Sheriff Dick Ross, in the news release, said he applauds the efforts of the investigating officers.

"We are no longer just a rural community exempt from big city crimes," Ross said in the news release. "There appears to be an increase in the volume of methamphetamines labs in our area. We plan to utilize any and all resources to control this trend."