Three Duluth men are among five charged in Gainesville with drug trafficking in an operation where 1,572 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $3.14 million was seized. The drugs were intercepted in a tractor-trailer truck filled with peppers, cactus and cilantro.
Authorities announced the arrests Tuesday morning at the Gainesville public safety complex, according to a report in the Gainesville Times.
“This is our largest marijuana bust in probably 10 years,” said Hall County Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Ware, commander of the Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad, speaking at a podium flanked by a wall -- 106 sealed packages -- of marijuana.
Arrested were Jose Luis Chavez-Morfin, 43, of Duluth; Juventino Morfin-Mendoza, 38, of Duluth; Jose Macias-Sanchez, 45, of Duluth; Marcos Antonio Ortiz-Barajas, 19, of Douglasville; and Calvin Elwood Gearhart, 47, of Wichita, Kan.
All were charged with trafficking marijuana and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, according to the newspaper. All are being held at the Hall County Jail, it said.
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