Over 1,000 pounds of meth seized and 15 people charged in Colorado drug
investigation
[November 20, 2025]
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
DENVER (AP)
— Federal authorities said Wednesday they seized more than a half-ton of
methamphetamine and indicted 15 people following a two-year
investigation that disrupted a drug trafficking organization from Mexico
operating in Colorado.
Eleven people have been arrested, but four others including the
organization’s alleged leader remain free and are believed to be in
Mexico, the Colorado U.S. Attorney's Office announced.
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U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Peter McNeilly, joined by
local and federal officials, announces the indictment of several people
accused of working with a Mexican drug trafficking organization,
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Colleen Slevin) |
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Dave Olesky, Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in
charge, said in a news conference that the investigation
revealed ties “to elements in Mexico involving the Sinaloa and
Jalisco cartels.” Olesky did not take questions, and an agency
spokesperson declined to elaborate.
Sinaloa and Jalisco, notorious cartels whose names are derived
from the Mexican states where they originated, were among eight
Latin American crime groups recently designated as foreign
terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.
An arrest affidavit said the seized methamphetamine amounted to
millions of individual doses.
Most of the 1,115 pounds (505 kilograms) of meth was discovered
hidden in the corners of boxes of pear squash that was recently
imported from Mexico and found on a property in the Denver
suburb of Lakewood in April, the affidavit said.
Almost 100 pounds (45 kilograms) were found on a Greyhound bus
passing through Vail in December after investigators got a
warrant to track a cellphone used to communicate with a
suspected drug dealer.
Authorities were waiting to check the bus when it arrived in the
ski resort town, the affidavit said. The drugs were headed to
the Denver area, U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said.
“This is one supply chain that needed to be broken,” said Marv
Massey, acting FBI special agent in charge.
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