WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Local and federal agents flooded multiple locations with cruisers, armored vehicles and mobile command centers as the culmination of a year-long investigation cracking down on what Wichita police are calling a “transnational drug cartel.“
Multiple search warrants were served across Sedgwick County, with the bomb squad called to one location. Police are not providing many additional details. We know of two locations: the corners of 30th and Mascot, and 95th Street South and Meridian, but not much else.
There are still many unknowns, and one Wichita defense attorney advises a cautious approach to drawing conclusions early in a high-profile case.
“We have no idea what ‘transnational conspiracy’ means or why the government might be entitled to label these arrests with that sensational name,” Monnat said.
He says these cases can be sensationalized by media outlets and police working the investigations.
“It is not unusual in Wichita, or anywhere else in the United States, that the law enforcement officers exaggerate to some extent the notoriety or the sensational nature of this or that bust,” Monnat said. “We’re a media-driven nation; the more you can pump up your headline, the greater work you seem to have done.”
He says the slow pace of information and the lack of public knowledge before the case boiled over in Wednesday’s searches are fairly typical for large-scale drug investigations like this.
“Many of those investigations have to be conducted surreptitiously without the knowledge of the public in order to be effective,” Monnat said. “It is not unusual that there be long-term stings, long-term investigations that only appear after a lot of hard work or a lot of technical surveillance has been done.”
With the lack of information, Monnat reminds people of their constitutional right to the presumption of innocence. He concludes with words of caution regarding the coming flow of information, advising the adoption of a level of healthy skepticism.
“We should question what is in the paper or in the media about the alleged guilt of the individuals. In other words: we should doubt it, we should question it, we should cross-examine it. We should cross-examine the people that are telling us about the guilt of others because that’s only consistent with the presumption of innocence,” he said.
The Wichita Police Department, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, and the Department of Justice all declined requests for additional information.
See the full story at KSN.com.