Following two operations known as Xterra Range and Operation Pig Pen, Colorado law enforcement officers arrested 33 individuals. The investigation into this matter supposedly took as much as two years, and it appears that law enforcement officers were assisted by FBI agents and other federal officials.
It is asserted that at least one of the organizations was involved in the drug trafficking and transporting of crystallized methamphetamine. It is claimed that the crystallization process resulted in a form of methamphetamine that was 90 percent pure.
Perhaps most serious as relates to the charges are allegations that the methamphetamine was trafficked from Mexico to California and eventually ending up in Colorado. If convicted of the federal indictments, the penalties for transporting drugs across state and international boundary lines is likely to be extremely severe.
Obviously law enforcement officers have been heavily targeting the individuals charged, and significant steps were taken in having these people investigated and eventually arrested. With the time and money invested in these arrests, law enforcement officers would not likely want to admit that arresting officers could have possibly made mistakes while the investigation was ongoing.
Individuals charged in such arrests need the assistance of legal assistance because of the potential penalties that may come about. However, those arrested will also need help in keeping out evidence that is used to convict that may in some way be improper.
Drug arrests of these kinds are often troubling because we generally do not know what individual roles each suspect supposedly played that led to their arrests. All we see is a list of names published in the newspapers, and we are led to believe that all of the suspects were guilty of the very same things.
Source: The Denver Channel, “Operations ‘Xterra Range’ and ‘Pig Pen’ result in 33 drug arrests Thursday,” by Phil Tenser, April 25, 2013