After five years, local law enforcement agencies have helped solve a drug conspiracy case involving three states. Today, the Illinois State Police announced it helped seize $12.5 million from a narcotics ring in Illinois, California, and New York.
State Trooper, Jason Wilson, says the case began in 2009 when a trooper conducted a routine traffic stop along I-88 in Henry County, and found over 300 pounds of marijuana. Five people were charged with transporting narcotics from California to New York for distribution.
"It was a massive undertaking for law enforcement to be able to make sure that this ring was taken down and hopefully destroyed. When you look at the large amount of money that was used, you think about the crimes that are probably prevented from this afterwards," he says.
Officers in California and New York seized over $12 million. Wilson says nearly $9 million has been distributed to the 33 law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation.
"When you think about how much illegal contraband that would have to take to be able to raise that much money of excess, that kind of tells you how large of a scale this entire stop was."
Four local agencies will share $1.5 million--the Geneseo Police Department, Henry County State's Attorney's Office, the Illinois State Police, and the Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group.
