A Minneapolis man stopped for driving in a bus lane had 196 grams of cocaine and 25 grams of fentanyl, according to charges.

Liban Abdulkadir Ali, 23, of Minneapolis, faces four felony charges, including first-degree sale of cocaine and first-degree sale of fentanyl.

According to the complaint, a Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy stopped a vehicle on September 3, 2026, that was unlawfully driving in a bus lane in Minneapolis, passing all stopped traffic.

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During the traffic stop, the deputy observed drug paraphernalia in the center console, specifically a red plastic straw with a burnt tip, commonly used to ingest narcotics. The deputy also discovered that Ali had a revoked driver’s license. When asked to exit the vehicle, Ali complied, and the deputy noticed a plastic baggie containing residual white powder on the driver’s floorboard. A pat-search revealed a hard item in Ali’s waistband, but he did not respond when asked if it was a weapon.

In a further search, the deputy found two baggies containing a large quantity of a white substance, which later tested positive for cocaine, weighing 98.16 grams and 98.24 grams. Further investigation of the vehicle uncovered additional bags of suspected narcotics, including a brown powdery substance and two smaller baggies containing a pink substance, along with a digital scale.

The pink substance tested positive for 2.56 grams and 1.43 grams of fentanyl, while the brown substance tested positive for 21.14 grams of fentanyl. In total, the complaint says, Ali possessed 196.40 grams of cocaine and 25.13 grams of fentanyl, quantities it calls indicative of possession with intent to sell.

The complaint states that due to the large quantity of narcotics and evidence of sale, the state requested the complaint be issued by warrant.

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Jurisdictional Context

Hennepin County is Minnesota’s most populous jurisdiction. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office handles felony prosecutions across Minneapolis and 44 other cities; the Fourth Judicial District presides over felony arraignments and trials at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.