Because this is such an important bust and the information relevant to all of Colorado, SandBox has taken more than a snippet from Chieftain content.
Thank you to all officers and agents who participated in this probe and bust. We appreciate you so much. Please stay the course cleaning up the drugs, the traffickers and cartels in Colorado.
Nick Bonham:
"Four people were arrested in Pueblo recently for reportedly smuggling pounds of methamphetamine from out of state.
Valentine Torres-Valdez, 29; Daniel Arabia, 24; Julio Soto, 22, and Raquel Cardenas, 19; are members of a suspected drug ring that were transporting methamphetamine to Colorado Springs by bus and van, according to affidavits from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
All four were in Pueblo County jail in lieu of $50,000 bail and holds for immigration officials.
The four were arrested Jan. 5 after a four-month investigation. Their arrests come after Carlos Meza Osorio (age not available), was arrested here in November with 7_ pounds of suspected methamphetamine.
Perdro Perez Barraza in Colorado Springs was the chief distributor and was arrested at his Colorado Springs home. (There was no record of Barraza on Thursday at El Paso County jail; it was unclear where he is being held.)
The others were the drug couriers, according to the affidavit by Detective Chris D'Amour.
Arabia, Soto and Cardenas had smuggled 2 pounds of meth in "computer bags" on a bus from Phoenix to Albuquerque, N.M. There, Torrez-Valdez picked up the trio in a minivan and traveled north on Interstate 25, followed and tracked the entire time by DEA agents.
In Pueblo the four were stopped for speeding - 78 in a 65 mph zone, the affidavit said. Torrez-Valdez allowed police to search the van, which led to the discovery of the methamphetamine.
DEA Agent Matt Barden said the seized drugs are likely from Mexican cartels that were smuggled into the United States. These latest arrests are the third suspected drug ring with ties to Mexican drugs dismantled in Pueblo in the last six months
"All these guys, all this dope, certainly in my opinion are coming from Mexican cartels. I don't know which cartel it would be specifically from, but I would have to say it is cartels," Barden said...."
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