DEA finds 2,585 pounds of meth in load of celery

ATLANTA — The Drug Enforcement Administration recently made one of the largest meth busts the agency has made this year.

A Mexican drug cartel smuggled more than a ton of the drug into Atlanta in a trailer of an 18-wheeler, WSB reported. It was hidden among a load of celery at the Atlanta State Farmer’s Market in Clayton County.

DEA said the official weight was 2,585 pounds.

“This was contained in a cover load of celery,” DEA Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Robert Murphy told WSB. “It was hiding in the celery. Obviously, we threw away the celery. That didn’t make it to the store.”

The bust was the largest amount of methamphetamine the DEA has seized in Atlanta and the third-largest made in 2024.

“The wholesale value of this is over $3 million. The significance is that this is an unbelievable amount of drugs to be shipped at one time. It also shows the confidence of the cartel behind this,” Murphy said.

This was not the first bust at the farmer’s market. DEA said there have been many seizures there and is now working with the Georgia Agriculture Commissioner to curb drug trafficking.

“We are going to exert efforts every single day to ensure this type of activity does not take place and they are not able to use places like the state farmers market to purport their criminal activity,” Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said, according to WSB.

The driver of the truck, Jesus Martinez Martinez, was arrested, the DEA said.

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