Interim U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Lisa Kirkpatrick told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that drug cartels in Mexico started focusing on Minnesota about a decade ago, and it’s created a “hub” for the Upper Midwest for methamphetamine and fentanyl trafficking.

“I frequently say meth is king in Minnesota and it always has been,” said Kirkpatrick. “Minnesota is awash with deadly methamphetamine right now.”

On March 21, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota charged 11 people in a big meth bust involving multiple kilos and a kidnapping in St. Paul with ties to a Mexican drug cartel.

RELATED: 11 people charged for drug trafficking, kidnapping and conspiracy in the Twin Cities

Kirkpatrick told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the Twin Cities became a hub for the illegal drug trade because Interstate 35 travels nearly all the way to Mexico, there is an international airport here, and there’s access from other countries at the Twin Ports in the Duluth area.

“There’s just a lot of ways to get drugs into and out of Minnesota,” said Kirkpatrick.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Slaughter, Jr., is the office’s top narcotics prosecutor. He said people will pay a lot more money for meth, and other drugs here than they will in cities closer to the U.S.-Mexican border.

“A pound of methamphetamine goes for 400 to 600 dollars,” said Slaughter. “Here it will go for between 15,000 and 3,000 dollars. So, it’s sheer economics.”

Both prosecutors said cocaine is also making a resurgence in the area.