64 Arrested In Major Colorado Drug Trafficking Case

DENVER, CO — Sixty-four people were indicted in a drug trafficking and money laundering bust, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced Friday.

An investigation, which was launched in March 2019, uncovered a "thriving market for illicit controlled substances, including heroin and counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl," Weiser's office said in a news release. The Denver Drug Enforcement Administration directed the investigation in partnership with the Arvada Police Department.

Fentanyl-tainted pills "flooded" Denver's metro area during the pandemic, the office said.

The 64 people were charged with participating in an international drug trafficking network, which transported large quantities of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl from Mexico through U.S. ports of entry into Colorado in vehicles with concealed compartments, officials said.

The investigation also uncovered a money laundering operation that trafficked drug money through a variety of wire transfers and bulk U.S. currency transports to Mexico, the Colorado Attorney General's Office said. Investigators found the drug trafficking cells in the Denver metropolitan area, Colorado Springs and Adams County, officials said.

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“Colorado communities and families have suffered greatly from the opioid epidemic—and that impact is getting worse during this pandemic. That’s why addressing this crisis is a top priority for our office,” Weiser said in a statement.

“By holding accountable the high-level organizers of this criminal enterprise and halting the spread of dangerous drugs, we can help save lives in Colorado. This effort is an excellent example of what we accomplish through ongoing collaboration in our state.”

Over the last 20 years, nearly 5,000 Coloradans died from a prescription opioid overdose, and more than 900 of those deaths were due to synthetic opioids that included fentanyl, officials said. The number of opioid deaths in our state has risen sharply in recent years, from 49 deaths in 2016 to 220 in 2019, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.