DEA opens new office in Duluth, Minnesota

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha opened a new office in Duluth, Minn.

It is being opened through a partnership with the Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force. The Duluth Post of Duty, the 11th DEA office in the DEA’s Omaha Division, supplements the existing drug law enforcement presence in Northeastern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

“Joining the existing Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force provides a force-multiplier for all involved agencies,” Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Richard Salter said. “This partnership brings additional federal law enforcement and prosecutorial resources that will help dismantle criminal drug trafficking organizations currently causing destruction to many of our families and communities.”

The Omaha Division is made up of 11 offices in seven states, including Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois (Western), and Wisconsin (Western). The Duluth office will embed two DEA agents and additional federally deputized task force officers with the Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force.

“We’re merely embedding DEA agents into the very successful and long-standing Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force,” Salter said. “The DEA’s strength is our global network of intelligence and operational resources throughout the United States that enables us to respond rapidly and expand investigations that often link to other major U.S. transportation-hub cities, the U.S.-Mexico border, and ultimately to drug cartels in Mexico and fentanyl suppliers in China.”

Duluth Chief of Police Mike Tusken, U.S. attorney W. Anders Folk, and Duluth Mayor Emily Larson also attended the press conference to announce the new post.

The DEA has 240 domestic offices in 23 divisions throughout the United States along with 93 foreign offices in 69 countries.