Nearly 50 people were nabbed in an early morning raid at a private party in the Denver Metro area on Sunday morning including illegal immigrants with suspected ties to a Venezuelan gang that also included the seizure of drugs, cash and weapons.
The multi-agency bust at a makeshift nightclub in southeast Denver led to the arrest of 49 men and women, many of whom had connections to the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang with at least 41 determined to be in the country illegally, according to Steffan Tubbs, public affairs officer for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Rocky Mountain Field Division that includes Colorado, Utah, Montana and Wyoming.
Tubbs told Cowboy State Daily Monday that the multi-agency operation began around 5 a.m. Sunday and went smoothly with no shots fired, fights or any injuries.
He couldn’t provide a breakdown for how many suspected gang members were arrested or the number of men and women taken into custody, only to say that not all arrested were male.
Along with the arrests, DEA agents also seized “significant” amounts of drugs, including cocaine, crack cocaine and pink cocaine, known by the street name "tusi," as well as several weapons and a large amount of U.S. currency.
The multi-agency operation included the DEA, Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and hundreds of local law enforcement partners, Tubbs said.
“DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division has been investigating TdA drug trafficking since last summer, and today’s successful operation shows that the men and women of DEA will not rest until our communities are safe from this gang and the drugs they peddle,” said DEA RMFD Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen.
Cartel activity everywhere, including Wyoming
Sunday’s bust culminated from a months-long investigation that began last August following the interception of fentanyl pills that were headed to the Denver metro area, Tubbs said.
This is part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to target cartel drug operations throughout the country and in Wyoming, Tubbs said.
The two primary cartels operating in the region are the Sinaloa and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNC), which have operations in all states, including Wyoming, Tubbs said.
He declined to comment on any current investigations in Wyoming, only to say that investigations are constantly ongoing in Wyoming and elsewhere.
“We have agents in Wyoming, men and women who are working hard that are part of the Rocky Mountain field division,” he said. “We know that Wyoming is not immune from what the rest of the country is seeing.”
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
