15 charged in DC drug ring trafficking meth and date-rape drug GBL

Federal prosecutors have charged 15 individuals in connection with a transnational drug trafficking organization distributing methamphetamine and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) in Washington, D.C., and along the East Coast, FOX 5 DC reported.

The superseding indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court, alleges the conspiracy has operated since at least November 2022 and stretches from New York City through Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C., with attempts to expand into Chicago, Florida, and Southern California.

Authorities say the group sourced methamphetamine from California and imported GBL from South Korea. They used encrypted messaging, coded language, commercial parcel delivery services, stash houses, and shell businesses to move the drugs, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The indictment also alleges the group laundered drug payments through peer-to-peer platforms and commercial accounts disguised as legitimate business income. Local distributors reportedly sold meth and GBL together as a party drug combination called "sexchem."

GBL is an industrial solvent with legal uses but converts in the body to GHB, a potent date-rape drug, prosecutors explained. The superseding indictment adds four newly charged defendants considered high-level in the organization.