Minnesota's US Attorney Luger makes heroin a priority

Stopping heroin dealers is a top priority for federal prosecutors in Minnesota, U.S. Attorney Andy Lugar said Monday.

Last month, authorities arrested 65 suspected heroin traffickers in a statewide sweep. Those arrests are just the beginning, said Luger, who in February became the top federal attorney in Minnesota.

"A lot of the people that were arrested on that day in April were relatively low-level, mid-level players," Luger told MPR News' All Things Considered.

"That's one of the ways you make a case, is you start at the bottom and you work your way up," Luger said. "We're also doing investigations where people higher up are under scrutiny. But in order to disrupt the traffic, in order disrupt the cartels that bring the heroin in. You've got to go to the people who distribute it on the street."

Stopping drug dealers in Minnesota is a challenge because they often have ties to Mexico's violent drug cartels. Earlier this month, authorities arrested four men for allegedly torturing two men over a suspected theft from a cartel-owned drug stash house in St. Paul.

Luger said the cartels will be ruthless no matter where their business is done.

"The cartels are just not nice people. It doesn't matter that it's Minnesota versus New York or LA or Chicago," he said. "From the cartel, we're all end users. We're all consumers of their product. When a deal goes bad, as it apparently did here, they are going to enforce their business rights and they're going to do it in a ruthless way. And what I've told people is, 'We may be Minnesota nice, but they're not.' "

Luger said authorities aim not just to prosecute dealers, but also reduce heroin use in the state. He said the state also is dealing with a rise in prescription painkiller abuse.