Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies Dec. 7 display approximately $10 million in cash, 111 kilograms of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine and 32 weapons seized in 18 drug raids in metro Atlanta recently. Fayette Sheriff’s Drug Task Force participated in the raids.

An eighth floor conference room at the Richard Russell Federal Building in Atlanta Dec. 7 could have doubled as a bank if it were not for the fact that the millions of dollars on display were part of ongoing operations intended to take a bite out of two Mexican drug cartels.

A large group of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies watched as U.S. Attorney David Nahmias announced the results of the coordinated multi-million dollar drug and cash seizures made in the metro area during the last week.

One of those near the podium was Fayette County Sheriff’s Drug Task Force (DTF) Capt. Mike Pruitt. For Pruitt, the occasion was another reminder of the reality that drugs originating in Mexico more than 2,000 miles away have a direct connection to the smaller communities, like Fayette County, that lie beyond the shadow of the Gold Dome.

“This is what we’ve been talking about. You can’t fight the drug problem in this country by sitting back and chasing street dealers on every corner selling street dope. There’s a supply and demand that is coming in from outside the country, coming in here,” Pruitt said.

An example of the Mexico to metro Atlanta connection occurred in June when DTF and Fayette SWAT team members busted two Hispanic males attempting to sell two pounds of ice methamphetamine to undercover agents at Banks Crossing shopping center in Fayetteville. The meth came from Gwinnett County after being transported into the metro area from Mexico.

“If you don’t cut the head off the snake, you’re not going to stop the flow. So that’s the whole purpose for being involved in the strike force that the sheriff got us involved with, because the strike force targets the Mexican cartels that are setting up cells in the metro Atlanta area and distributing their drugs here. And Fayette County is a part of the metro Atlanta area. So if you think the drugs that are coming in here aren’t coming to places like Fayette and Coweta and Clayton, then you’re living with your head in the sand,” Pruitt said.

Operation Shooting Star was initiated in October 2006 by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF Strike Force). In March 2006, the Atlanta High Density Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force began identifying Georgia-based traffickers in Operation Latitude Adjustment.

Nahmias said the results of the efforts of Operation Shooting Star and Operation Latitude Adjustment included the seizure of $8-10 million in cash, 111 kilograms of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine and 32 firearms, including handguns and assault rifles. In addition, 42 defendants were indicted by a federal grand jury Dec. 4 and another 25 were charged by criminal complaints on Dec. 6 and 7, according to Nahmias. The seizures came from 17 drug busts in Gwinnett County and one in DeKalb County.

Representatives of the many federal, state and local law enforcement agencies were in attendance at the press conference. Nahmias recognized the agencies involved in the seizures efforts, noting that the teams working behind the scenes included hundreds of agents.

“These seizures mean that somewhere in Mexico there are some unhappy drug kingpins,” Nahmias said. “We will make them pay for their decision to traffick drugs here.”

With metro Atlanta long recognized as the major hub for drugs in the eastern U.S., those drugs would have been sold across the metro area and throughout the eastern United States. The busts last week went a long way toward disrupting the local chain of command, Nahmias said, because the local leadership reported directly to the cartels in Mexico.

Entering the United States from Mexico, the drugs are smuggled cross country by ground transportation methods and enter the metro area where are dispersed around the Atlanta and throughout the east coast. The cash from drug purchases returns to the Atlanta area for packaging the shipment back to Mexico, Nahmias said.

The operations that culminated in last week’s seizures began more than a year ago with Operation Shooting Star and Operation Latitude Adjustment. The investigation is continuing, said Nahmias.

To date nationwide, the operations involving 300 agents from numerous agencies have seized $27 million in cash and thousands of pounds of drugs, according to DEA Atlanta’s Special Agent in Charge Rodney Benson.