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Ninety-six people, including 75 students, have been arrested in a drug bust at San Diego State University following a year-long undercover investigation that revealed a trafficking ring centered in part on two of the school’s fraternities.
Eighteen SDSU students were arrested this morning. SDSU president Stephen Weber and school police Chief John Browning appeared at a morning news conference with the County District Attorney to laud the arrests as a step forward for the safety and health of the university. Weber said that he didn’t care how the arrests affected others’ perception of the university because it was not a problem he wanted to tuck under the rug.
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| SDSU President Stephen Weber Photo: Sam Hodgson |
The university has suspended the students who were arrested, pending “a due-process review” and has evicted those students who were living in on-campus residences.
A press release from the university lists the evidence seized thus far as:
an undisclosed amount of marijuana, cocaine, hydroponic marijuana plants, ecstasy pills, psilocybin (mushrooms), viles, hash oil, methamphetamine, various illicit prescription drugs, one shotgun, three semi-automatic pistols, three brass knuckles and at least $60,000 in cash.
University Police, along with the Drug Enforcement Agency and the District Attorney, initiated the investigation after a student died of a drug overdose last year.
Some defendants will be arraigned as early as 1:30 p.m. today.
Our news partners at NBC San Diego have more details:
According to prosecutors, one of the students arrested was a cocaine dealer on campus who was one month away from obtaining his master’s degree in Homeland Security and also worked as a student Community Service Officer on campus, reporting to the campus police. Another student arrested for possession of 500 grams of cocaine and two guns is a Criminal Justice major, they said.