Federal agents swooped down upon an illegal underground nightclub in Colorado Springs early Sunday.
A total of 114 illegal immigrants were detained in the raid, which targeted a club officials said was frequented by members of the MS-13 gang, according to the New York Post.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division led the raid, assisted by the Colorado Springs Police Department and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. About 300 law enforcement members from 11 agencies were involved in the raid, according to KXRM-TV.
“This is an underground, illegal nightclub and what was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence, [and] we seized a number of guns in there,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen said.
📢 Prior to entering the underground nightclub in CO Springs this am, #DEA RMFD Special Agents announced their presence.
>200 people were inside – at least 114 in the U.S. illegally.
In addition, more than a dozen active duty military were patrons or security guards. pic.twitter.com/zNiDAZeDYw— DEARockyMountain (@DEAROCKYMTNDiv) April 27, 2025
“DEA is going to continue to work to keep our community safe, no matter what the criticism is,” he said.
“We are not going to accept drug trafficking and prostitution in our cities, and so absolutely, Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer city this Sunday morning.”
Pullen said the raid was months in the making.
“So we have been working on this underground nightclub for a number of months… to identify what’s going on here, and again, months-long information about drug trafficking and prostitution happening inside,” he said.
🥂 Part of busting up the underground nightclub in Colorado Springs included the arrest of 114 illegal aliens.#DEA partners and @DHSgov placed patrons (in the U.S. illegally) on buses for processing and likely eventual deportation. pic.twitter.com/aLyQUdy5YN
— DEARockyMountain (@DEAROCKYMTNDiv) April 27, 2025
Through the investigation, Pullen said they were able to identify other groups at the underground nightclub.
“In our investigation, we have noticed TdA, MS-13, and I believe Hells Angels in this club; I don’t have the information about whether those members were there tonight, but we are still working through a lot of that because we have so many people in custody, we are working through the information about who’s who,” Pullen added. TdA is an abbreviation for the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang.
Among the roughly 200 people at the club were about a dozen active-duty service members, Pullen said.
“We had active duty service members who were running security at the club and involved in some of these crimes, and in fact, we had over 100 illegal aliens inside as well, and… the illegal aliens were taken into custody by ICE,” he said.
The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division is investigating the presence of service members, Pullen said.
Pullen added that those inside the club ditched their drugs as the DEA stormed in.
“So as you may suspect, when the cops showed up at the door, most of the drugs hit the floor. We did find some cocaine, it looks like some pink cocaine or the tusi, and there was a little bit of other drugs; we haven’t had time to test everything, but there were dozens of small packages of drugs that they have recovered so far, that I have personally seen,” he said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that President Donald Trump’s directive to “make America safe again is achieving results” as he approaches 100 days in office.