Bus Busted

It’s astonishing to read about the many ways that people come up with to move drugs from one location to another.

In 2011 alone there have been stories about drugs wrapped tightly like footballs and lobbed or catapulted over a fence in Arizona. There have been stories about elaborate tunnels that have been dug underneath the US-Mexican border, some of which even had a conveyor belt and lighting systems. There are stories about people sneaking it onto airplanes to fly from Florida to Massachusetts, and baking illegal substances into brownies in Michigan to mail it to Oregon. The oddest location, perhaps, thus far, involved an inmate’s mom putting the powdered Oxycontin into a light layer on a page from a coloring book, which was supposed to look like it came from a young child as a gift to her daddy.

So, it probably isn’t a surprise at all that a Jefferson County grand jury just brought an indictment against 23 people who were involved in a major drug trafficking ring that transported drugs across the border on large tour buses. Drugs have been found in cars, in jars, in special secret compartments in trucks, in planes, and on boats, so why not buses as well?

This organization was accused ob bringing in a street value of $36 million to the Denver area, which is roughly 45,000 pounds of marijuana. It wasn’t just sitting out in the open to be easily found. The marijuana was supplied by the drug cartel Los Zetas, and compressed into brick form and hidden in specialized compartments built underneath the bus. As the buses drove from Durango, Mexico, across the border in El Paso, Texas, they made their way to a warehouse in Commerce City, CO, they managed to bring in about 400 pounds on each of their trips, about 8 times per month.

The best news is that two of the ringleaders were among the 23 who were arrested. Eighteen of the 23 are in custody and five are believed to be hiding in Mexico.

District Attorney Scott Storey said,"This is great example of teamwork between local and federal law enforcement agencies in Colorado and our neighboring states. An operation of this size requires extraordinary organization and expertise."