The owner of a Marietta auto repair shop was arrested Friday after 150 pounds of liquid methamphetamine was found inside a semi truck’s gas tank on the property.
That much liquid meth has the potential to produce 600 pounds of crystal meth, which would have a street value of $10 million, authorities told Channel 2 Action News.
Roqulio Garcia, 45, of Marietta, is accused of trafficking and offloading the drugs at his mechanic shop on Atlanta Street, Channel 2 reported. The bust was conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Cobb County Sheriff’s Office. The drugs are believed to have come from Mexico.
Garcia’s son, Cristian Garcia, spoke to the news station and denied his father’s involvement in drug trafficking. He said a customer dropped off the semi for repairs.
“He’s a good man — a hard-working man,” Cristian Garcia said about his father. “How are they going to assume something if they don’t know? What proof do they have? That’s why we got a lawyer to prove he’s innocent.”
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Authorities told Channel 2 that Roqulio Garcia may have had plans to build a meth lab in the business, but he has not definitively been connected to any Mexican cartel. However, there’s allegedly evidence that he’s part of a “large-scale criminal organization” from Mexico.
He remains in the Cobb County Jail without bond and has a hold placed on him by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to jail records.
The DEA and Cobb deputies began investigating the case in October.
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