UPDATE: Marijuana grown in Southern Colorado headed to Cuba
A source inside the U.S. District Attorney’s Office said a group growing marijuana in Southern Colorado planned to ship it to Cuba. The source also said a “fair number” of those arrested in the raids are from Cuba.
The U.S. Department of Justice says that a federal drug raid on eight properties in Cotopaxi and Westcliffe netted more than 1,000 marijuana plants and 20 indictments.
Six of the raided properties had Cotopaxi addresses in Fremont County, and two had Westcliffe addresses in Custer County.
An affidavit obtained by KRDO NewsChannel 13 says the raid was part of an ongoing investigation by the Colorado Springs Office of the Drug Enforcement Agency that began last year.
Eight search warrants that were obtained as part of that investigation were executed on Sept. 1, 2015.
The execution of those warrants resulted in the recovery of 1,002 marijuana plants, 50 pounds of dried marijuana, 28 firearms and over $25,000 cash.
The DOJ says indictments were obtained for 20 people as a result of the raid. It says 17 of those people have been arrested. The remaining three are considered fugitives. No names were released.
The DOJ says all 20 suspects face a variety of drug trafficking charges, including conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 1,000 plants of marijuana. It says that they each face penalties of not less than 10 years, and up to life in federal prison.
“This heavily armed, rogue drug-trafficking organization was transporting a substantial amount of marijuana to people outside Colorado,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. “And the drug traffickers were making a large profit in return.”
The Department of Justice says that the investigation that led to the raids began with a traffic stop in May 2014. It says that during the investigation, multiple vehicles were placed under surveillance. The DOJ says that one of the vehicles that was being watched left Cotopaxi on Oct. 20, 2014 and was pulled over in Pennsylvania on Oct. 21, 2014. It says that three duffel bags filled with approximately 34 pounds of marijuana were found in the car.
The DOJ says that another of the vehicles that was placed under surveillance was followed to a UPS store in Colorado Springs on Nov. 3, 2014. It says someone in that car used the UPS service to mail two large boxes of marijuana to Florida.
“Colorado’s permissive marijuana policies and laws continue to be exploited by large scale marijuana trafficking organizations, who are establishing their marijuana grow operations in Colorado to support their nationwide marijuana distribution network,” said DEA Denver Division Special Agent in Charge Barbra Roach.
The Department of Justice says additional arrests are possible.
