Nearly 1,600 pounds of meth found hidden in blackberries shipped to North Georgia, FBI says
The FBI and local law enforcement agencies say they seized almost 1,600 pounds of methamphetamine that was hidden in pallets of blackberries shipped from Mexico to North Georgia.
Investigators say the drugs that they seized from trucks in Atlanta and Hall County were worth tens of millions of dollars on the street.
The seizures happened on Nov. 21. In Atlanta, federal, state, and local authorities say they discovered 419 kilos of the drug hidden in a shipment of the berries in a truck parked outside a home on Custer Avenue SE.
In Hall County, deputies found another refrigerated box truck outside a business on McEver Road. Inside, authorities say they found 300 kilos of methamphetamine, making it the largest seizure of the drugs in the county's history.
A third truck was found but had since been emptied. The driver of that truck, identified only as a Mexican national, was moved to ICE custody for deportation.
"Just in North Georgia, and just within the last few months, we have seen massive methamphetamine seizures of drugs smuggled in with cucumbers, or with celery, or with jalapeño peppers, and now, as you will hear, blackberries," said Theodore Hertzberg, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, at a press conference discussing the seizure.
Both seized shipments are believed to have been brought across the Southern border from Mexico.
Investigators say two men, both described as convicted felons, were arrested in connection with the drug seizures and face federal charges.
The men are currently in state custody but will soon be transferred to the U.S. Marshals Service. If found guilty on drug trafficking charges, they face up to life in prison without parole.