GAINESVILLE — The Department of Natural Resources recovered a quantity of methamphetamine, cash and weapons during a bust on Lake Lanier early Wednesday morning.
DNR Law Enforcement Division spokesman Mark McKinnon said rangers were patrolling the lake around 1 a.m. when they noticed a pontoon boat with no lights.
"When they got to the boat, they encountered three individuals there, and as they began to talk to these individuals, they realized that there was something else going on," said McKinnon.
He said as rangers talked to the three men, one of them threw something overboard - presumably evidence, according to McKinnon.
Rangers promptly called the Hall County Sheriff's Office Dive Team, and divers recovered the package that was tossed into the water.
"It turns out that they did, in fact, have drugs and some other things on the boat that they should not have had, so they were booked into the Hall County Jail," said McKinnon.
The suspects were identified by Hall County authorities as 36-year-old Cohen Landau Motes, 54-year-old David Brian Chandler and 48-year-old David Allen Poole.
Authorities levied a total of 13 charges against the three men; Motes faces a longer list of charges, since he presumably was the boat operator.
McKinnon said it is not unusual for DNR rangers to make drug arrests on the state's waterways.
"Yes, they [drugs] are out on the lakes across the state and Lanier is no exception," said McKinnon. "People should be aware that there is drug activity out on the lakes and Lanier being, of course, the busiest lake in the state for sure...you're definitely going to have some of that going on."
