DEA conducts massive marijuana raids across Colorado Front Range

Posted by Sagar Satapathy on April 17, 2016.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on Thursday raided numerous warehouses and homes across the Front Range as part of a multi-state investigation into the illegal distribution of marijuana outside Colorado. More than forty people were arrested in this regard, while lots of marijuana plants were pulled at many locations and piles of pot plants were seized.

The massive raids are the culmination of a year-and-a-half long investigation by the North Metro Drug Task Force, the DEA, U.S. Postal Inspectors and the Colorado Attorney General’s office. Officers searched about 30 properties during the raids, which spanned from the Denver area south to Colorado Springs.

According a DEA spokesman, the raids are tied to one illegal operation and many were executed in the Denver metro area. The suspects allegedly came from Texas to grow marijuana in Colorado and they bought houses to grow the plants, and then ship them out of state to sell the drugs for a big financial gain.

In 2015, local, state and federal authorities uprooted roughly 4.1 million cultivated marijuana plants in all 50 states, down slightly from the haul of 4.3 million plants in 2014.

Following the massive raids, Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh says that one of his priorities is to ensure the state doesn’t become like northern California, which he believes, is known for producing pot sold across the nation.

Notably, Colorado has legalized the use of medical and recreational marijuana. It also allows people at the age of 21 and older to grow up to six marijuana plants, while the capital city has a cap of 12 plants.

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