Two big meth busts in Southeast this week

Southeast Alaska’s narcotics task force has intercepted two major drug shipments in the past week, seizing more than five pounds of methamphetamine and arresting suspects in Ketchikan and Haines.

Investigators with the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) task force first intercepted a package bound for Ketchikan containing 2,056.8 grams – about 4.5 pounds –  of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $316,000. The package was delivered on Nov. 1 to a residence on Dunton Street, where officers arrested 33-year-old Adidas Nike Zion Brown of Louisiana. A firearm was also recovered at the scene.

Brown was booked into the Ketchikan Correctional Center on multiple felony charges, including three counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the third degree, two counts in the fourth degree, and two counts of weapons misconduct in the third degree.

For a city of roughly 8,000 residents, the amount of meth seized represents a significant supply, enough to flood local streets many times over.

Just days later, SEACAD investigators intercepted two packages headed to Haines containing a combined 235 grams – about half a pound – of methamphetamine worth about $50,000. The packages were delivered on Nov. 5, when 30-year-old Haines resident Austin Elmer Benedict Hotch picked them up and took them to a residence on Second Avenue.

Officers, assisted by Alaska State Park Rangers, seized the drugs and about $24,000 in cash before arresting Hotch, who was charged with misconduct involving a controlled substance in the third degree, a class B felony.

In a community of just over 2,000 people, that amount of meth would have been enough to cause extensive harm, law enforcement officials said.

Both cases are part of the growing flow of narcotics into Southeast Alaska through parcel delivery systems and the continuing efforts by SEACAD to disrupt those networks.

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