LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Earlier this month, 70 kilos of methamphetamine headed from a Mexican drug broker to Louisville was intercepted by federal agents.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it believes the huge bust Sept. 11 was connected to a cartel. A task force officer posed as a dealer to purchase the drugs from a source in Atlanta, and DEA agents there intercepted the drugs after the sale was arranged. One person was arrested.
It's just one of several cases Louisville Metro Police investigators have worked with federal agents to solve.
"So we are seeing narcotics and firearms being trafficked," said Lt. Joseph Fox with LMPD's Focused Intelligence Unit in the Criminal Interdiction Division. "We know that there's a connection to cartels."
LMPD records from 2023-24 show an increase in drug busts and a more than 790% increase in heroin confiscated.
"Methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine is making a bit of a resurgence," said Maj. Steve Lacefield with CID. "Marijuana, meth is probably the highest percentage of what we're seeing right now. Fentanyl is up there."
The CID is made up of five different units, including Focused Intelligence, Major Case and Violent Crime units.
"We're going to be the unit that works the most violent criminals in the city — from drug trafficking to gang members, street enforcement," Lacefield said.
"We get a lot of drug tips," Fox added. "But our unit you think of in terms of how the police department structure patrol responds. Homicide responds every time they're called. We look for the intelligence.
"While our shooting and homicide numbers are trending down, the percentage of the total number of victims, both on homicides and on shootings ... the percentage of juveniles is increasing."
Lacefield pointed to car break-ins as one of the issues contributing to gun crimes "because we have groups of juveniles that are going around the neighborhoods breaking into cars just for the sole purpose of stealing firearms."
Records show LMPD saw a nearly 60% increase in stolen gun cases from 2023 to 2024. Some of those guns were taken from cars.
"We can't arrest our way out and and lock up every single 13- and 14-year-old who hops in a stolen car, but that's the reality," Fox said. "Juveniles are going out and perpetrating these crimes and are stealing guns. They're stealing cars. They're shooting at individuals. When they're doing that, they're shooting at each other like it's a game.
"So our mission is to disrupt violent criminal activity in an effort to make every neighborhood in Louisville safe."
Police said connecting those dots will also help with tips coming in from the community. Anyone with information about a crime can call the LMPD tip line anonymously at 574-LMPD.
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