COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Police in Colorado Springs have seized 188 pounds of methamphetamine, about 37,000 fentanyl pills, three firearms and an estimated $40,000 in cash from three homes in El Paso County, capping a five-month investigation into what officers describe as an organized drug trafficking ring distributing both drugs across the county and the city. The Colorado Springs Police Department announced the results on Monday, October 26, 2026. Two men are in custody — one arrested in Colorado Springs and a second arrested the same day in New Mexico — and police say the investigation is still active.
Source: Colorado Springs Police Department via The Gazette
The case was run by CSPD's Metro Narcotics and Related Crimes unit, known as NARC, which includes detectives from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. Regional agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) joined the unit for the raids, and a regional drug task force made the second arrest in New Mexico, according to the department's release.
Five months of surveillance before a single day of raids
The investigation began in May 2026, when police received information that an organized drug trafficking ring was operating in El Paso County, officials said. Over the following months, NARC detectives put in hundreds of hours of surveillance, interviews and intelligence review. By the autumn, detectives had concluded that members of the organization were distributing large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl throughout El Paso County and Colorado Springs, and they obtained search warrants for three residences.
On Thursday, October 22, the NARC unit, teamed with regional DEA agents, executed those warrants at the three homes. Combined, the searches yielded 188 pounds of methamphetamine, about 37,000 fentanyl pills, three firearms and an estimated $40,000 in cash. The cash total was still being counted as of Monday afternoon, police said, so the final figure may change. Police did not release a street value for the drugs.
Two men arrested — in Colorado Springs and in New Mexico
Fernando Chacin, 36, was arrested in Colorado Springs on Thursday and charged with five counts of methamphetamine and fentanyl distribution, as well as one count of being a “special offender,” police said. Under Colorado statute, as The Gazette explained, the special offender designation applies to individuals suspected of a pattern of manufacturing, selling, dispensing or distributing controlled substances — an enhancement that signals prosecutors view the alleged conduct as ongoing and organized rather than a one-off sale.
The same day, a regional drug task force arrested German Diaz, 41, in New Mexico. Diaz faces a charge of conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, and a special offender charge, according to the release. The New Mexico arrest shows the investigation reached beyond Colorado's border, though police have not publicly linked the group to any named cartel or foreign supplier.
Chacin and Diaz are charged, not convicted. Both men are presumed innocent unless and until they are proven guilty in court, and the counts above are the allegations as police announced them.
Why the haul matters in El Paso County
The seizure lands in a county where overdose deaths have been climbing even as they fall nationally. The Gazette's editorial board noted this month that El Paso County's accidental-overdose deaths surged 16% last year to 178, and that County Coroner Emily Russell-Kinsley reported 124 overdose deaths in the first six months of this year alone, with fentanyl, methamphetamine or both driving most cases. Fentanyl is potent in tiny amounts — the DEA says as little as 2 milligrams can be lethal — which is why a seizure counted in tens of thousands of pressed pills matters to local families, schools and employers.
For the Punjabi diaspora and the many Punjabi truck drivers who run Colorado's highway corridors, including Interstate 25 through Colorado Springs and Interstate 70 across the state, cases like this one are a reminder that the synthetic-drug trade is not only a border story: bulk methamphetamine and fentanyl are stored and sold in inland cities along the same highway network that freight moves on, and multi-agency takedowns in those cities are now a regular part of that fight.
What happens next
Police described the two arrests as the operation's results “so far,” and said the investigation remains active, leaving open the possibility of further arrests as detectives work through the evidence seized at the three homes. Both men face court proceedings on the charges as filed. Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked to contact the Colorado Springs Police Department at 719-444-7000; tips can be given anonymously through Pikes Peak Crime Stoppers at 719-634-STOP (7867) or 1-800-222-8477.