Mexican drug cartels are active in southern Colorado, DEA says

(COLORADO) — Two Mexican drug cartels that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says are responsible for fentanyl smuggled into the U.S. are operating in Colorado.

As part of an exclusive new partnership with the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division, FOX21 News spoke with Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen about the unprecedented measures the DEA is taking to address every aspect of the global fentanyl supply chain.

“We use technology to identify who they are, where they are, who they are communicating with, and we try to identify the entire network; so the distribution side, the supply side and the money laundering side and we try to tackle all of those people at the same time,” Pullen said.

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According to the DEA website, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel, also known as the CJNG Cartel, are global criminal enterprises and rely on a global supply chain to smuggle fentanyl into the U.S.

“They operate in all major cities and are responsible for bringing drugs into our state,” Pullen said. “The men and women of the DEA investigate drug trafficking organizations throughout the state, including in Southern Colorado and here in Colorado Springs, and we routinely identify members of cartels involved in importing drugs into the state and distributing drugs on our streets.”

In May of this year, “Operation Cash Out” was launched in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana to target and cut off the flow of money to cartels.

“Cartels don’t care about the 100,000 Americans who died last year, they only care about the money they make,” Pullen said. “They make billions of dollars; these pills are incredibly cheap to make, two to three cents to make per pill in Mexico.”

According to Pullen, the DEA is working to map out the entire network of drug traffickers, and a key part of that is investigating how the cartels move their money.

“The cartels are making a fortune,” he said. “In some places we even see pills being sold, like on an Indian reservation for $50 or $60 a pill, so they’re making an incredible profit.”

In May 2023, the DEA provided insight into “Operation Last Mile,” in which federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies worked together to uncover distribution networks tied to the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels in the U.S.

The operation lasted a year and resulted in the following arrests, drug seizures and cash confiscations:

3,337 arrests
44 million fentanyl pills
6,500 pounds of fentanyl powder
91,000 pounds of methamphetamine
8,497 firearms
More than $100 million

“The Sinaloa cartel and the CJNG cartel guys operate all over the world,” Pullen said. “I used to work in Asia and we would see the Sinaloa guys in Tokyo, in Beijing, and Australia and Bangkok, because they’re peddling their wares all over the world, and when you know they’re in Tokyo, you know they’re here in Colorado Springs and Denver … and they’re working on behalf of these giant criminal organizations in Mexico.”

As the DEA works to disrupt the way cartels move their finances, nearly 200 money transfer companies and financial institutions were targeted by investigators during “Operation Cash Out.”

“We’re working with federal, state and local partners to identify the networks that are specifically moving the money,” Pullen said. “We’re working with the banking industry who are helping us identify if that money is moving through their systems (and) we’re working with other money services companies that may be moving money as well.”

As a result of this and previous investigations, the DEA has seized cash, cryptocurrencies and assets ranging from vehicles to aircraft, Pullen said.

“What we see a lot of is … money is generated and sometimes that money is collected and it goes right back to Mexico (and) often that money is routed through certain companies and it goes through the banking system,” he said. “Sometimes that money goes all the way to China and it’s converted into goods and those goods end up in Mexico.”

As the DEA continues its efforts to dismantle the fentanyl supply chain, Pullen said another piece of the puzzle is tracking down criminals and getting them off the streets, particularly in areas with high rates of violence and overdoses.

“We have an operation called Overdrive and we do that nationwide,” he said. “What it essentially does is look at the confluence of violent crime and drug trafficking in certain areas and neighborhoods and when we identify that, we send teams out there to work on those neighborhoods and that specific problem area, and we work with our state and local counterparts to help us identify that and go after those people.”

As FOX21 continues its partnership with the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division to share this vital information, our next series will delve deeper into where the chemicals used to produce fentanyl are made, how these precursor chemicals then enter Mexico, and what happens to them after they end up in the cartels’ labs.

For the latest news, weather, sports and streaming video, visit FOX21 News Colorado.