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Operation Meth Merchant Just Heating Up
Tanya Mendis
June 3,2005

Operation Meth Merchant may have shut down two dozen convenience stores across six counties but investigators say it's just one victory in a much larger war. So large, investigators say, that could reach global levels.

"You can't just attack the labs and you can't just attack the large shipments," said United States Attorney David Nahmias. "You also have to attack the people that are supplying the products."

That's why the G.B.I., D.E.A., and I.R.S. started tracking Mom and Pop stores. The result: the arrests of nearly 50 people today, and the confusion of countless more when they pulled up and discovered their neighborhood store was shut down.

We asked Whitfield resident Brenda Blackenship if she had any idea and she replied, "No. None whatsoever! That blows my mind."
An affidavit several hundred pages long details the testimony of undercover agents who say they went into the stores and actually asked to buy products to make meth. They say they came out with ingredients by the armful.

The investigation now includes law enforcement from more than 25 agencies including the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"I belive some of the defendants may be here illegally or have permanent residency status and the felony charges they're facing could result in their being deported," Nahmias said.

Investigators said this bust just the tip of the iceberg.
"The vast majority of the meth coming into Georgia is coming in from Mexico, mainly in the form of ice, which is a very, very pure form," said Sherri Strage, special agent in charge for the D.E.A.

But police say the challenge of controlling the meth being imported into the state is doubled when they have to control the meth going out of the stores' back doors.

"We do see the same meth coming into this area," Varnell City Police Chief Tim Henderson said. "However, on top of that, the local community being able to make, manufacture and see just makes it double trouble for us."