Seattle police find machete, series of drugs while arresting alleged dealers
Mar 28, 2025, 8:00 AM
Seattle police officers say they found a machete and a series of drugs while arresting two people on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
Seattle police officers say they found a machete and a series of drugs while arresting two people on Tuesday.
It happened in two notorious areas of the city.
The first arrest happened just before 1 p.m. in the Chinatown-International District near 12th Avenue South and South King Street. Officers say they saw a 17-year-old boy pulling out baggies with a white, clear substance inside, then handing them to several people in exchange for cash.
Police say the group then immediately started smoking the items they’d purchased from the teen.
When officers arrested the teen, he told them the money was “from Social Security,” and that he wasn’t dealing drugs.
When they searched him, officers say they found 0.9 grams of fentanyl, 4.4 grams of meth and $57 in cash.
The teen was booked into the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children & Family Justice Center.
A second arrest took place near the busy Aurora Avenue North corridor a few hours later while officers were on bicycle patrols.
At about 5:30 p.m., officers saw a group of people gathered in a parking lot along Aurora Avenue North.
The department says officers spotted a 27-year-old holding a glass pipe with a hose attached. Police detained the man and asked him to empty a small clutch. Offices say a baggy with what appeared to be several large shards of meth fell out.
The suspect told officers they were “fake drugs” because when he tried to smoke them, he did not get high.
Officers arrested the man and searched his backpack. Inside, they say they found a tin container with several baggies of white powder, which the man admitted was meth he’d purchased downtown.
As Seattle police continued looking into the backpack, they say they found a scale and large machete with its handle wrapped in an umbrella.
The 27-year-old was transported to the North Precinct and released.
The department did not explain why he was released.
