Assist trulyindependent journalism
Discover out extraShut
Our mission is to ship unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds energy to account and exposes the reality.
Whether or not $5 or $50, each contribution counts.
Assist us to ship journalism with out an agenda.
Investigators seized a large cargo of methamphetamine weighing 2,585 kilos that was hidden amongst packing containers of celery at a Georgia farmer’s market, the Drug Enforcement Company introduced.
The medicine, price an estimated $3.2m, represent the biggest bust within the historical past of the DEA’s Atlanta workplace.
“It is a vital and unbelievable quantity of medicine to be shipped at one time and to a vacation spot this removed from the border,” Robert J. Murphy, particular agent in control of the DEA Atlanta Division, mentioned in a press release. “It additionally reveals the boldness of the cartel behind this.”
Officers obtained a tip {that a} cargo of medicine was coming throughout the border in a 16-wheel truck and intercepted the meth at Clayton County’s Atlanta State Farmers Market on August 8.
“Most of those sort of seizures occur on a border or port of entry, and we’re a number of states away from a border,” Murphy mentioned at a press convention after the seizure.
“Clearly, we threw away the celery,” he added. “That didn’t make it to the shop.”
Police have arrested a Mexican nationwide, Jesus Martinez Martinez, 40, in reference to the case.
He’s been charged with trafficking meth and is being held in DeKalb County jail with out bond, The Atlanta Journal-Structure reviews.
Officers vowed to go after folks utilizing the meals provide chain to maneuver medicine.
“It’s the produce terminal for america and if medicine are transferring by there, there’s a chance of contamination, and we all know that, so it’s necessary we hold our customers protected,” Georgia Division of Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper mentioned after the bust.
“We’re sending this message loud and clear to those that wish to use agriculture as a way to an finish, as a canopy for prison exercise…you can be caught; you can be prosecuted, and you’ll go to jail.”
Investigators proceed to research how the medicine made it to Georgia.
Information of the Georgia bust follows one other high-profile drug discovery.
Boaters off the coast of Florida discovered a 56-pound bundle of cocaine price $625,000 that had been within the water so lengthy it was coated in barnacles.
