CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. –The Drug Enforcement Administration in Atlanta intercepted a methamphetamine shipment from a Mexican cartel at a Clayton County farmer’s market. According to agency authorities, this is the division’s largest seizure ever, with almost 2,000 pounds recovered.
The bust was part of a multi-agency attempt to prevent millions of dollars worth of meth from reaching US city streets. According to federal officials, the pills were hidden in a consignment of food sent to a Forest Park farmers’ market. “This is the largest meth seizure at DEA Atlanta and the third-largest total meth seizure DEA-wide,” stated DEA Special Agent In Charge Robert Murphy.
Following Thursday’s big narcotics bust, officials believe that practically a ton of meth that was intended to be peddled across the Southeast is no longer a threat to community safety.
“We received information about a tractor-trailer that was coming across the Mexican border,” Mr. Murphy said.
Murphy claims investigators discovered 2,380 pounds of the narcotic inside a tractor-trailer destined for distribution at the Atlanta State Farmers’ Market.
“This was found in a cover load of celery…”It was hiding among the celery. We tossed out the celery. “That didn’t make it to the store,” Murphy explained.
Jesus Martinez Martinez, a Mexican national, was arrested.
The pills are worth $3 million wholesale, but Murphy believes they would sell for much more on the street.
“Most of these kind of seizures happen on a border or port of entry, and we’re several states away from a border,” according to Murphy.
“This cartel was very confident in what they have been doing to send this much at one time,” according to Murphy. Officials believe cartels are increasingly using vegetables to disguise drugs in illegal smuggling activities, making Forest Park’s farmer’s market an easy target.
“It is the produce terminal for the United States, and if drugs are moving through there, there is a risk of contamination, which we are aware of, so we must keep our customers safe,” said Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper.
Harper claims that this is why he revived the agency’s law enforcement division last year, which had been dissolved during the previous government.
“We’re sending a clear message to those who use agriculture to hide criminal activity…”You will be apprehended, prosecuted, and imprisoned,” Harper said.
Officials said the drugs would have to be examined and sent to a lab, but Murphy believes the consignment included pure methamphetamine.