23 kilograms of powder MDMA and 30,000 pills were seized in what may be the largest and most unorthodox “club drug” bust ever in San Francisco. The operation wasn’t set up as a sting and the bust of an estimated $1.5 million’s worth of drugs was a result of a series of lapses in judgement. San Francisco police were responding to a burglary call in the area when they noticed a trail of blood on the sidewalk leading to an apartment with a broken window.
They followed the blood trail to a unit on the second floor where a heavily intoxicated Benjamin Hagerl answered the door covered in blood. Hagerl, 36, made a critical error and told police that he was alone in the apartment but they could hear conspicuous noises. They found 31-year-old Steven Terrell and several bags of drugs sitting in plain view.
Both Hagerl and Terrell have prior drug charges on their criminal records. Police suspect that the drugs were en route to the nearby Outside Lands Music Festival but are unable to confirm this at the time. The bust is an unexpected outcome for the department, which has shifted its focus from lower-level drug crime to larger issues such as trafficking.