Gwinnett police confiscate 71 pounds of pot
Gwinnett County police seized 71 pounds of marijuana from a man caught sneaking into a gated apartment complex.
An officer working with an undercover burglary sting Thursday in apartment properties along Sweetwater Road noticed a white Ford Explorer "piggy back" another vehicle through the security gate, police spokesman Corp. Edwin Ritter said.
The detective who saw the vehicle called for a patrol officer to follow, and the officer stopped the driver.
While checking for the visibly nervous driver's identification, the officer noticed a small statuette of Santa Muerte, a death god commonly viewed by thieves, criminals and drug dealers in Mexico as a patron saint or source of spiritual reprieve.
The officer saw three boxes in the SUV, and upon searching, discovered three bales of marijuana shrink-wrapped in plastic, Ritter said.
The driver, Sergio Benitez, was arrested and charged with trafficking marijuana and driving without a license. Benitez is being held without bond at the Gwinnett County jail.
