More than 150
kilograms of cocaine and 1,300 pounds of marijuana are off the streets
thanks to two recent stings initiated by the Fayette County Sheriff's
Department.
Although both
busts occurred outside Fayette County, it is believed a large part of
the shipments were headed here, said Maj. Bruce Jordan of the Sheriff's
Department.
Saturday, the
cocaine was seized from a rock quarry in DeKalb County when it was being
unloaded from a tractor trailer onto a blue Isuzu Rodeo, Jordan said.
Authorities seized $330,000 in cash and two houses, and much of those
funds will likely be diverted to Fayette County, Jordan said.
The federal
Drug Enforcement Administration was asked to assist in the operation because
the investigation revealed a multi-state ring involving a cocaine broker,
Jordan said.
Six undercover
agents from the department worked the investigation for over a year, Jordan
said. The DEA estimated the street value of the cocaine to be $3.3 million.
"Talk
about your lifetime achievement: a multimillion-dollar drug bust,"
Jordan said.
Although no
one was injured when deputies and DEA agents swarmed in, one of the suspects
got away. That person has been identified and is being sought by authorities,
Jordan added.
Five arrests
were made at the scene on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine:
J.B. Cucco, 61; Jay Cucco, 37; Vincent Johnson, 32; Cory Walker, 33; and
Kemmit Hand, 30.
Monday evening,
the sheriff's department was involved in a large marijuana bust in Clayton
County involving more than 1,300 pounds of marijuana, Jordan said. The
estimated street value of that bust was $950,000, he added.
More details
on the marijuana bust were not available at press time.
The Fulton
and Clayton county sheriff's departments also participated in the investigation,
Jordan said.
Earlier in
the week, the Sheriff's Department recorded several other marijuana busts
that normally would have been significant, "30 pounds here and there,"
but they paled in comparison to the DeKalb cocaine bust.
"This
is just a really big seizure," Jordan said.
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