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 week, the agency said.
The official weight of the crystal meth was 2,585 pounds.
Agents arrested the driver of the truck, Jesus Martinez Martinez, after they said they discovered more than 1,000 kilograms of meth concealed among boxes of celery in the cargo area of the truck.
“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. “It also shows the confidence of the cartel behind this.”
The wholesale value of this seizure is approximately $3.2 million.
“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. That’s particularly significant since Georgia is not a border state. He said the agency received a tip that led them to a tractor-trailer that was coming across the Mexican border.
According to multiple news sources at the conference, Tyler Harper, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture, said that the celery was destroyed after the bust because it could have been contaminated by meth. Harper noted that agricultural imports can be seen by cartels as an easy way to sneak drugs into the U.S.
“DEA’s top operational priority is to defeat the Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels — the two drug cartels that are responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl and methamphetamine that is killing Americans,” the DEA said in a news release.
The investigation is ongoing, but officials have indicated that drugs will be tested and flown to a lab, but they believe the shipment to be pure methamphetamine.
