ATLANTA — A Mexican man has been arraigned on drug charges after federal authorities seized 325 pounds of methamphetamine from a storage unit in Norcross.
The Department of Justice said Drug Enforcement Administration agents saw Marco Cueto-Rosales, who authorities said is in the U.S. illegally, going into the storage unit and moving items around in plastic tote bins and trash bags.
A K9 unit from the Gwinnett County Police Department later detected the odor of narcotics, leading to a federal search warrant and the discovery of the methamphetamine on Oct. 10.
“Although the Mexican cartels stockpile and peddle their poison in our community, the quick actions of law enforcement thankfully took these deadly drugs off the streets,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said.
“This operation is about more than drugs – it’s about protecting families and giving our communities a chance to live free from the violence and addiction that meth brings,” said Robert J. Murphy, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division.
The subsequent search, authorized by a federal warrant, uncovered nearly 1,500 rectangular packages of methamphetamine weighing 325 pounds.
Cueto-Rosales, 47, of Malinalco, Mexico, was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Regina D. Cannon on Oct. 28 on federal charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative aimed at eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
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