Agents with the Atlanta Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration seized over 2,500 pounds of crystal meth concealed among boxes of celery in the cargo area of a truck during an enforcement operation at the Atlanta State Farmers Market in Georgia last Thursday, the agency said.
The total weight of the crystal meth was 2,585 pounds, the DEA told USA TODAY in an emailed statement Tuesday, and the driver of the truck, identified as Jesus Martinez Martinez, was arrested. The wholesale value of the seizure is approximately $3.2 million, the DEA said.
“This is a significant and unbelievable amount of drugs to be shipped at one time and to a destination this far from the border,” said Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division, in the statement. “It also shows the confidence of the cartel behind this.”
“This is the largest meth seizure we’ve ever had here at DEA Atlanta, and the third largest seizure total this year,” Murphy said at a news conference Monday. Murphy said the agency received a tip that led them to a tractor trailer that was coming across the Mexican border.
Tyler Harper, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, said at the news conference that the celery was destroyed after the bust because it could have been contaminated by meth.
Other recent drug busts
A man in California was arrested last Thursday and charged on a federal criminal complaint stating he was connected to the attempted shipping of over 2,000 pounds…
