Within four days, local and federal officers turned a routine investigation into a massive drug seizure and arrested 15 members of a metro Denver drug enterprise.
Denver police, federal Drug Enforcement Agency agents, and officers from the Front Range and the North Metro task forces seized more than a half-million dollars in drugs and $209,000 in cash.
They arrested 15 people for investigation of drug dealing and illegal weapons possession. Officers also made six misdemeanor prostitution arrests and held one suspect for violating conditions of his parole in a murder case.
Denver police did not release the names of the suspects, who include high-level operatives within a Denver drug cartel, according to one of the undercover detectives involved in the arrests.
Officers confiscated 74 grams of crack cocaine, 36 pounds of cocaine, 3 pounds of methamphetamine, and smaller amounts of heroin, marijuana and prescription drugs.
“This has been a good few days,” said David Fisher, chief of the Denver Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division.
The department’s Vice and Narcotics Bureau, the DEA, the Front Range Task Force and the North Metro Task Force worked together to make the arrests.
Officials said the large seizures will have an impact on drug availability on Denver’s streets.
In four days, the officers made 18 drug buys, seized six vehicles and eight weapons, including a loaded .45-caliber pistol and a sawed-off shotgun.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
