5 Columbia U Students Arrested in 'Ivy League' Sting Allegedly Dealt Drugs in Dorms & Frat Houses
Five Columbia University students, including a member of the student council, were arrested on campus this morning and charged with selling drugs out of dorms and fraternity houses in New York City.
The “Operation Ivy League” probe, which has been going on since July, also led to the earlier arrests of three individuals who police say supplied the students and charged them with selling drugs, according to the City Room blog of the New York Times and the New York Post.
One of the three claimed suppliers also is accused of seeking an undercover officer’s help in a planned kidnapping at gunpoint of rival cocaine traffickers who he believed had stolen from him.
Unidentified sources told the Post that the arrested students were working their way through college by selling drugs.
“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,” says Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. “This is no way to work your way through college.”
The articles don’t include any comment from the five students. They are expected to be arraigned today in Manhattan Criminal Court, according to the Post.
Kelly said the investigation was sparked by a tip from a student, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).
Updated on Dec. 8 to include information from Wall Street Journal.
