US Authorities Seize Half-Ton of Meth, Charge 15 in Colorado Drug-Trafficking Bust

Federal authorities announced Wednesday that they have seized more than half a ton of methamphetamine and indicted 15 people after a two-year investigation that dismantled a Mexico-based drug trafficking network operating in Colorado.

Eleven suspects have been arrested, while four—including the alleged ringleader—remain at large and are believed to be in Mexico, the Colorado US Attorney’s Office said.

DEA Special Agent in Charge Dave Olesky told reporters the investigation uncovered links “to elements in Mexico involving the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels.” He did not take questions, and a DEA spokesperson declined to provide additional details.

Sinaloa and Jalisco—two of Mexico’s most violent and powerful cartels—were among eight Latin American criminal groups recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.

According to an arrest affidavit, the seized meth amounted to millions of individual doses.

Drugs Hidden in Produce Shipments and Bus Luggage

Most of the 1,115 pounds (505 kilograms) of methamphetamine was found in April in Lakewood, a Denver suburb, packed into the corners of boxes of pear squash imported from Mexico, the affidavit said.

Another 100 pounds (45 kilograms) were discovered on a Greyhound bus passing through Vail in December, after investigators obtained a warrant to track a cellphone used by a suspected dealer. Authorities intercepted the bus when it arrived in the ski resort town. The shipment was headed to the Denver area, US Attorney Peter McNeilly said.

“This is one supply chain that needed to be broken,” said Marv Massey, acting FBI special agent in charge.