Seven people were arrested after drug agents with Hall County’s Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad seized more than $1.8 million worth of narcotics, weapons and cash in a several month-long investigation Friday.
The MANS task force alongside the Department of Homeland Security, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office (ARDEO), Georgia National Guard Counterdrug Task Force, FBI, U.S. Marshals, GBI and Gainesville Police Department worked the case with the service of five search warrants.
Armando Durate-Herra, 28, Jose Manuel Durate-Durate, 24, Roberto Henriquez-Hernandez, 58, Cruz Mauricio Guzman, 36, Jose Luis Pacheco-Rojas, 42, Byron Manolo Ramirez-Ramirez, 26 and Everardo Santiago-Moran, 42, were all arrested in connection to the crime and believed to be a part of the same criminal organization involved in the distribution of illegal narcotics and weapons in Hall County and surrounding areas, officials said.
The search warrants and arrest locations were at middle-class homes on Gaines Mill Rd., Cronic Drive, Dixie Drive, Wallace Rd. and Cocker Rd., Lt. Don Scalia with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office said.
According to a press release by the MANS agency, more than 15.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, half kilogram of black tar heroin, more than one kilogram of cocaine, more than two pounds of marijuana, 200 sildenafil pills, 14 handguns, five rifles and a shotgun were seized from the suspects’ possession.
The street value of the seized narcotics was around $1,837,000, the release stated. In addition to the drugs and weapons, agents collected $21,500 in cash.
The suspects were booked into the Hall County Jail and face charges of trafficking methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine, possession of methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin and cocaine with the intent to distribute, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, felony possession of marijuana, use of a communication device in committing or facilitating a drug transaction and other charges.
“Friday’s operation resulted in arrests and seizures that will make news, but it’s the weeks of tedious and difficult investigation that made those possible,” Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch said. “While we spotlight this significant case, the MANS Task Force and other law enforcement partners are always on the mission to make our community safer, and I thank them for their ongoing service.”
No further arrests are expected in this case.
