Santiago Lujan and Cesar Suppa face drug trafficking charges, Jhon Ramirez faces charges for the sale of cocaine and MDMA, and Matias Serrano was taken into DEA custody as part of what police are calling Operation Pink Panther. Miami Beach detectives spent months infiltrating a WhatsApp group that advertised wholesale narcotics under a Pink Panther logo, an operation that ended with more than 70 pounds of drugs, nearly $50,000 in cash, and a BMW X5 seized across Miami-Dade County.
According to NBC 6 South Florida, Miami Beach Police detectives first infiltrated a WhatsApp group advertising and selling wholesale quantities of narcotics back in 2025. That initial infiltration exposed a larger drug distribution network operating throughout Miami-Dade County, the outlet reports, and by April 2026 detectives had identified another WhatsApp account using the same Pink Panther logo — this one tied specifically to the sale of 2C-B, commonly marketed on the street as pink cocaine.
Undercover detectives made controlled purchases of cocaine and MDMA while navigating the network's vetting process, eventually identifying several subjects and tracing the network's suspected sources of supply, the station's report states. One of those subjects, Cesar Suppa, was linked to a residence in Miami Beach where he was found to retrieve narcotics before undercover sales. That lead culminated in Miami Beach Police SWAT executing a search warrant at the residence.
What Detectives Seized
The haul recovered through the investigation included roughly 1 kilogram of cocaine, 1.16 pounds of MDMA and 2C-B combined, 1.14 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms, and 71.32 pounds of fresh cannabis and hashish, per the same account. Detectives also recovered 24 grams of ketamine, 4 grams of crystal methamphetamine, and 2 grams of LSD, along with $49,557 in U.S. currency and a BMW X5. Separately, Matias Serrano was found with $44,800 in cash at the time of his arrest.
Santiago Lujan, 25, was charged with MDMA trafficking and controlled substance sales. Jhon Ramirez, 39, is facing charges for the sale of cocaine and MDMA. Cesar Suppa, 30, was charged with drug trafficking. Matias Serrano, 29, was taken into Drug Enforcement Agency custody, the article notes.
The Chief's Response
Miami Beach Police Chief Wayne A. Jones said Operation Pink Panther demonstrates the value of proactive, intelligence-driven policing and the exceptional work of detectives. He said the investigation dismantled a sophisticated network responsible for moving significant quantities of dangerous drugs throughout the community, and vowed the department will continue following the evidence, working with local and federal partners, and holding people who profit from illegal narcotics accountable.
Jones, who was sworn in on August 31, 2023 as the first Black police chief in the department's 108-year history after 27 years in MBPD ranks, has overseen a string of similar undercover campaigns, according to CBS News Miami. In October 2025, the department wrapped up Operation 4K, a six-week South Beach enforcement push that used real-time intelligence analytics and undercover officers to net 26 felony arrests and 18 ordinance arrests, with a reported 27% crime reduction along Ocean Drive, as detailed by Local 10 News. A year earlier, in August 2024, MBPD ran Operation Euphoria, a two-week undercover sting targeting narcotics sales near parks, schools and places of worship that produced 57 arrests.
Local 10 News also reported that in February 2026, Miami Beach SWAT and undercover detectives raided a 76th Street apartment following an undercover meth buy, seizing eight different drug types including cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy and Xanax in a case that echoes the residential search tied to Operation Pink Panther.
Pink Cocaine's Branding Problem
The Pink Panther logo was used to advertise 2C-B, a Schedule I controlled substance under Florida law first synthesized in 1974 and later federally scheduled in 1995. But what gets marketed as pink cocaine and what actually ends up in buyers' hands are often two very different things.
Nationally, Drug Enforcement Administration testing data from 2020 through 2024 found that out of 960 seized pink powder samples, only four actually contained 2C-B, with the remaining 956 made up of other chemical combinations, as Hoodline previously reported in a case involving a Houston DEA seizure of pink cocaine worth nearly $500,000.
What Comes Next
Under Florida Statute 893.135, possessing 28 grams or more of cocaine constitutes felony trafficking, carrying mandatory minimum sentences starting at 3 years and scaling up to 15 years for amounts of 400 grams or more — thresholds the roughly 1 kilogram of cocaine seized in this case far exceeds. Detectives recovered 1.16 pounds of MDMA and 2C-B combined.
It remains unclear whether state prosecutors will pursue joint federal indictments given the Drug Enforcement Agency's involvement in Serrano's custody, or whether additional WhatsApp channel administrators or upstream suppliers will eventually face charges.
