Meth Bust Could Be Biggest In Eastern U.S.

Federal drug enforcement officials later this morning will give details on what’s being called the largest methamphetamine bust in the eastern U.S. The Gwinnett Daily Post reports late Sunday into early Monday, agents raided homes near metro Atlanta’s Duluth. The seizure netted 350 pounds of Mexican crystal meth, with a reported street value of more than $7-million. Four men were arrested and being held at Gwinnett County’s jail.

Two Dead in Meth Lab Blast

Two women were killed over the weekend after a suspected methamphetamine lab exploded inside a Ray City home.State authorities are now helping in the investigation.

Officials say the blast occurred early Friday in the south Georgia city.

Lanier County identified the dead as 65-year-old Annie Ruth Power and 37-year-old Constance Bennett.

(AP)

Meth Lab Explosion Kills Two

An explosion of a methamphetamine lab and fire at a south Georgia home killed two woman early Saturday morning.

The blast happened in Lanier county. Officials say it peeled back the roof of the double-wide manufactured home.

The victims, 65-year old Annie Ruth Powers and 37-year old Constance Bennett, were found in the home and pronounced dead shortly after the explosion.

Six Meth Labs Shut Down in Effingham County

Authorities say an anonymous source led police to find and shut down a half-dozen methamphetamine labs. The labs were in Effingham County. Yesterday two Clyo residents- John Michael Ball and Donna Senter, both 25- were arrested for the manufacturing, trafficking and possession of methamphetamines.

(AP)

Meth ring busted

29 defendants stand accused of taking part in a methamphetamine ring in Savannah. The indictment unsealed yesterday says the organization has been operating in at least 10 counties since 2005. Nine of the defendants are already in jail on other charges. Seventeen have been arrested. Three remain fugitives.

Meth Use Contributing to Foster Care Cases

Some rural counties are reporting as many as two in five children ended up in foster care because their parents used, sold or manufactured methamphetamine. Two areas of the state are seeing high amounts of meth activity.

In Northwest Georgia, from Cartersville to the Tennessee border, Georgia Division of Family and Children Services caseworkers are seeing a steady increase in the number of meth related cases.

In the southern part of the state around the Bainbridge-Thomasville, authorities are also observing increases in meth production and distribution.

Several local officials in those areas say the number of meth related foster care cases is higher than forty five percent. Hard numbers from the state are difficult to come by, but a spokeswoman for the Division of Family and Children Services says meth related cases are increasing.

That’s despite recent law changes aimed at curbing meth production, use and distribution. In all, there are about fifteen thousand children in Georgia’s foster care system.

I-20 "drug pipeline"

Interstate 20 that runs east-west between Augusta and Alabama is becoming a major drug pipeline. Federal authorities say every month they seize cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana from the corridor. One officer with the Taliaferro County Sheriff’s office says it’s never hard to find someone shipping drugs on the highway. Authorities say many of the drugs are linked to Atlanta.

"Meth merchants" charged

Two stores owners have been sentenced for selling products knowing they would be used to make the drug methamphetamine. Mitesh Patel and Alpesh Patel were sentenced to two years of probation and four months of house arrest. They were convicted of distributing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and other products from their northwest Georgia grocery stores. In all, 32 people pleaded guilty in the investigation into stores throughout northwest Georgia.