Eleven arrests have been made in conjunction with an investigation into what law enforcement believes is a large scale drug ring on St. Croix Chippewa tribal lands in northwestern Wisconsin. The eleven people were arrested Tuesday morning in Barron and Burnett counties by agents with the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, along with the State Patrol and deputies and police officers from local and tribal law enforcement agencies. Criminal drug trafficking charges involving the delivery of powder and crack cocaine and Methamphetamine are being handled by the Burnett County District Attorney’s Office.
According to a release from the office of Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, Tuesday’s arrests are part of an ongoing investigation which previously resulted in 24 convictions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and is part of the NADGI (Native American Drug & Gang Initiative), collaboration between tribal law enforcement agencies and the Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation to combat drug and gang activity on Wisconsin tribal lands.