Crime & Safety

Local Man Faces First-Degree Drug Charges After Package Intercepted at MSP

Authorities say they intercepted a package addressed to Lam Ngoc Tran-Jardin last week that contained 6.5 pounds of marijuana and more than 6 ounces of methamphetamine.

A Burnsville man is facing felony drug charges after authorities say they intercepted a package addressed to him that contained more than 6 pounds of marijuana.

Lam Ngoc Tran-Jardin, 23, is charged with three felonies: first-degree drug sales, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine; attempted first-degree drug sales, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $1 million fine; and fifth-degree drug possession, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

Tran-Jardin remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $60,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled May 22 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.

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According to the criminal complaint, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport police were inspecting inbound freight on May 1 when an officer noticed a suspicious package.

Police brought in a drug-sniffing dog to check the package, and the dog alerted officers to the suspect package. The recipient on the label was Lam Tran, with an address on 123rd Street East in Burnsville.

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Police obtained a search warrant for the box and found six packages containing 6.5 pounds of marijuana, along with a vacuum-sealed container containing 6.34 ounces of methamphetamine and a cell phone, which officers believed was used so Tran-Jardin could track the package using the phone’s GPS capabilities, according to the complaint.

The previous weekend, airport police had intercepted a similar package addressed to Lam Tran at an address in West St. Paul; that package contained 4 pounds of marijuana, the complaint charges.

Agents with the Dakota County Drug Task Force resealed the package after replacing most of the drugs with books and other items. The resealed package was then delivered to Tran-Jardin by an undercover agent dressed as an employee of a parcel company.

The undercover agent knocked on Tran-Jardin’s door and rang the doorbell just before 2:30 p.m. May 1. When nobody answered, he left the package the front door.

About two minutes later, a man later identified as Tran-Jardin opened the door, picked up the package and brought it inside.

Just before 5:30 p.m., drug task force agents executed a search warrant at Tran-Jardin’s home. Tran-Jardin refused to answer any questions, though he did confirm his name. Agents found the package delivered earlier on the floor in the home’s front entryway, unopened.

During execution of the search warrant, agents seized a plastic bag containing a green leafy substance, two glass bubble pipes containing residue, a bag with a white crystal-like substance and $2,757 in cash, which was in Tran-Jardin’s pocket, according to the complaint.

Agents also spoke to the home’s owner, who said he had rented the basement bedroom to Tran-Jardin a week earlier and had little contact with him.


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