Drug bust tied to Mexican cartels

Colorado Springs police have identified a connection between Mexican drug cartels and a large drug bust in the Pikes Peak area.

CSPD’s Metro Vice and Narcotics unit and the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Colorado Springs resident office announced 14 arrests and the seizure of tons of drugs Thursday. It includes 6.8 pounds of heroin, 9.75 pounds of methamphetamine and 1 kilogram of cocaine. Those drugs have a street value of $5.6 million.

Investigators said the immense amount of narcotics is unprecedented and so is the link they found.

“We were able to tie all of these to cartels in Mexico,” said Thor Eells, a commander with CSPD. “These are very well established drug trafficking operations that are beginning to actively and tirelessly make efforts towards getting these drugs on the streets here in the Colorado Springs metro area.”

While some of the drugs were being moved through Colorado Springs, investigators said much of it was intended for drug users in Colorado Springs. That includes people who are trying to substitute heroin for opiate-based pills that they can no longer get prescribed to them.

“The heroin we believe is driven by pricing and what we’re finding is that the vast majority of people abusing the heroin have been previous prescription drug abusers,” said Eells.

Police said teenagers are also abusing heroin. They believe many of the car break-ins and home burglaries they’ve seen over the last year are a result of teens trying to support their heroin habit.

“We see a fair and alarming number of juveniles using,” said Eells.

The investigation culminates a 10-month probe that began with juvenile crimes that detectives were able to link to heroin purchases. Police said two heroin rings were shut down because of the investigation along with seizure of 600 pounds of marijuana. Eells believes 2 to 3 cartels may have been working in Colorado Springs over that time.

“Our heroin seizures in the last 18 months exceed what we’ve seized in the previous three to five years,” said Eells.

Those arrested include: Juan Ramon Espinoza-Aldana, Javier Francisco-Jimenez, Maria Isabel Mendoza-Palacios, Guadalupe Marguez-Chavez, Ernesto Mata-Rotas, Angel Eduard Nunez-Rivera, Mario Alberto Dominguez-Orozco, Cesar Sotelo-Lopez, Jacinto Ponce-Amparo, Matias Aleman-Sanchez, Miguel Angel Gamboa-Tasso, Enrique Cuevas-Del Toro, Zakariya Angel Salazar and Leo Rios-Lucero.