AFOSI Det. 206 and Las Vegas narcotics unit bust drug house

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. John Jung
  • Headquarters, Air Force Office of Special Investigations
LAS VEGAS --  Often called the "Sin City," Las Vegas lays eight miles southwest of Nellis Air Force Base and the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center. The base is ringed with bars and other businesses that cater to the base and its Airmen. Some Airmen fall under the spell of the city and find themselves involved in illegal drug activity and need proactive help.

That help for some Nellis AFB Airmen came in the form of Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 206. For the past eight months, AFOSI, Det. 206 has been working closely with a Las Vegas metropolitan police street narcotics unit to track down the source of psychedelic drugs being sold to Airmen and getting them into trouble.

Approximately eight months ago, AFOSI, Det. 206, uncovered evidence that a small group of five or six Nellis Airmen were attending rave parties where they used club drugs such as ecstasy and psilocybin.

"Drug activity in the Air Force is similar to the rest of society. We're a microcosm of society," said Special Agent Troy Sullivan, AFOSI, Det. 206, commander.

"These are junior Airmen just [recently] enlisted -- very young. We have not seen it among pilots or aircrew," said Special Agent Sullivan.

It took months to infiltrate what law enforcement officials describe as the largest mushroom operation in recent memory. What the AFOSI, Det. 206 Special Agents and Metro police found in a nearby Las Vegas neighborhood was a psilocybin, commonly known as "magic mushrooms," production facility that was providing psychedelic drugs to Airmen at Nellis and the local population.

The two-story house in a southeast Las Vegas neighborhood looks innocent enough. However, when Special Agents and narcotics officers served a search warrant recently, they found a sophisticated mushroom farm with two and a half pounds of psychedelic mushrooms -- some dried, some still growing -- along with pounds of marijuana and a large quantity of cash.

Hallucinogenic psilocybin was popularized in the 1960s and has always been around, but officials were surprised by the size and scope of this bust.

Marijuana grow houses have cropped up exponentially in the city in the past two years, according to local law enforcement officials, but many of the techniques used to detect urban marijuana farms wouldn't work for exposing a mushroom operation. A mushroom farm is simply less obvious because mushrooms need less power and water than a house with a marijuana farm.

Within its scope of responsibility, AFOSI is tasked with counterintelligence, counterespionage and counter terrorism duties, but also pursues more routine threats, including drug trafficking involving Airmen. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Det. 206 works cooperatively with local Las Vegas police on cases that go beyond the gates of Nellis because AFOSI's police powers are limited beyond the base, so a partnership with Las Vegas metropolitan police was necessary, especially in this case where it was clear civilians were supplying the Airmen with illegal drugs.