Fifteen people charged in Colorado after over 1,000 pounds of meth seized

Fifteen people have been indicted in Colorado after roughly 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine was seized following a two-year investigation into a drug trafficking organization from Mexico operating in the state, according to federal officials.

Of those indicted, 11 have been arrested, but four others, including the organization’s alleged leader, are still free and believed to be in Mexico, according to the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Associated Press reported.

Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge Dave Olesky said in a Wednesday news conference that the investigation revealed ties “to elements in Mexico involving the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels.”

The seized methamphetamine amounted to millions of individual doses, according to an arrest affidavit.

Most of the 1,115 pounds of methamphetamine was discovered hidden in the corners of boxes of pear squash that were imported from Mexico and found on a property in the Denver suburb of Lakewood in April, per the affidavit.

Almost 100 pounds of methamphetamine were found on a Greyhound bus passing through Vail last December after investigators got a warrant to track a cellphone used to communicate with a suspected drug dealer.

When the bus arrived in the ski resort town, authorities were waiting to check on it, according to the affidavit. The drugs were headed to the Denver area, U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said.

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