Ivy League Drug Bust Had Bizarre Kidnapping Twist

Five Columbia students, three alleged suppliers are charged
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 7, 2010 5:50 PM CST
Ivy League Drug Bust Had Bizarre Kidnapping Scheme
Columbia University students Adam Klein, center, and Jose Perez, right.   (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

This is not your run-of-the-mill Ivy League drug raid—this one has a torture-by-LSD component. When police gave details today about the five Columbia students arrested and charged with distributing everything from LSD to Adderall to fellow students, they also told of a crazy scheme by one of their alleged suppliers (not a student). He wanted to kidnap two rival cocaine traffickers he thought had cheated him, hold them for ransom, torture them with doses of acid, and kill them if nobody paid up.

We know this because the person he enlisted to help carry out his plan was, of course, an undercover New York City cop working on the "Operation Ivy League" sting, reports Bloomberg. Says police chief Raymond Kelly: “The fact that a supplier to the Columbia students was willing to kill his rivals should demolish any argument that drugs on campus is a victimless crime. This is no way to work your way through college.” Click here for more details on the Columbia students arrested.
(More Columbia University stories.)

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