500 pounds of marijuana, valued at $1.2 million, seized in Gwinnett

The Gwinnett Metro Task Force seized more than 500 pounds of marijuana from a U-Haul truck on Tuesday. (Credit: Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office)

The Gwinnett Metro Task Force seized more than 500 pounds of marijuana from a U-Haul truck on Tuesday. (Credit: Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office)

There’s no other way to put it — that’s a whole lot of pot.

The Gwinnett Metro Task Force seized more than 500 pounds of marijuana Tuesday afternoon, a crop valued at an estimated $1.2 million. And it was all in a single U-Haul truck.

According to information released Wednesday by the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, investigators got a tip about a suspicious vehicle driving in the Lawrenceville area. They spotted the U-Haul near the intersection of Ga. Highway 316 and Cedars Road and initiated a stop.

A Lawrenceville police K9 detected narcotics in the vehicle and it was searched. Authorities found 427 packages of marijuana, weighing a total of 504.3 pounds, inside.

The driver, 46-year-old Suwanee resident Mark Anthony Spaziano, and passenger, 48-year-old Sugar Hill resident John Anthony Edney, were arrested and charged with trafficking in marijuana. They are being held without bond at the Gwinnett County jail.

The Gwinnett Metro Task Force was formed in 2012 to investigate drug and vice complaints inside the city limits of Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Duluth and Suwanee. It is comprised of officers from those departments and the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.