In a significant takedown, fifteen individuals were indicted for their roles in a Mexico-based drug trafficking operation that pushed large amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl into the Twin Cities and beyond, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced, with Clinton Ward stationed at the center of this illicit web.

The indictment, marking the culmination of extended joint efforts by US and Mexican law enforcement, laid out a bleak picture of the drug crisis gripping not just Minnesota, but the nation, each of these substances—methamphetamine, fentanyl, synthetic opioids—tying back to thousands of deaths every year, in a statement obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota, DEA Special Agent Steven T. Bell denounced Clinton Ward's operation, which "left a trail of destruction in its wake" but praised the team effort that brought it down, while FBI's Special Agent Alvin M. Winston Sr. emphasized the arrests' importance in combating the violence and danger these drugs sow in communities.

Given the vast reach of this criminal network, the indictment charged a variety of individuals with roles in the distribution chain, from a motel in Vadnais Heights, which served as an initial point of arrest for Ward with over eight pounds of methamphetamine in 2019, to his rise and establishment as a major cartel-affiliated trafficker operating from Jalisco, Mexico per the detailed court documentation.

Law enforcement's diligent efforts yielded over 1,600 pounds of methamphetamine, multiple kilograms of cocaine and fentanyl, a substantial number of counterfeit pills, 45 firearms, and an excess of $2.5 million in drug money in the pursuit that spanned years and transcended borders, this case being a testament to the unyielding efforts of entities like the DEA, FBI, and various Minnesota agencies all joining forces to bring the criminal network to its knees, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas M. Hollenhorst, the prosecutor for the case.

Clinton James Ward, now facing charges ranging from drug distribution to engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, was returned to the U.S. by Mexican authorities to face prosecution earlier this year, a significant twist in this international saga, each accused member of the Ward organization has appeared in U.S. District Court under the presumption of innocence until potentially proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, as is standard in American jurisprudence.