MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia is a prime target for drug dealers outside of the state, so much so, gangs in Detroit have divided the state in territories, according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District Bill Ihlenfeld.
“They are coming to Morgantown and other parts of West Virginia purely for profit,” Ihlenfeld said on WAJR’s Morgantown A.M. “They’re profiting from people who have addiction in West Virginia and we’re going to continue to push back as hard as we can.”
Federal indictments were unsealed this week for 14 people involved in a drug trafficking ring, transporting heroin from Detroit to Morgantown and selling the drug at various protected locations around Morgantown. Nine people were arrested on Tuesday in Michigan and West Virginia with more arrests coming in the future.
While attending a violent crimes and drugs summit this week, Ihlenfeld learned violent gangs in Detroit have divided West Virginia allowing a particular gang to operate in the Charleston area while another gang controls the drugs in the Morgantown/Clarksburg area and etc.
“Those people that sell this poison that cause death in our area, we’re going after them. If you sell drugs and somebody dies as a result of it, you’re looking at going to prison for murder,” emphasized Morgantown Police Chief Ed Preston.
Ihlenfeld admitted there is a lot of work left to eradicate the problem.
“That’s the key, the sharing of intelligence, working together across state lines. We have more tools today than we used to. Technology has made it easier for us to communicate, share intelligence and put information into a database about a target that we’re looking at in Morgantown who is also on the radar in Detroit.”