COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Federal agents said they uncovered a drug operation nestled in a Marietta neighborhood this week.
“There was nobody living there,” said Special Agent Robert Murphy.
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He said every part of the house was used for meth production. The Drug Enforcement Agency’s Atlanta Division raided the home Tuesday. It is on Pair Road in SW Marietta.
Inside agents said they discovered 85 gallons of meth oil and 160 kilos of finished meth.
That is a combined 1,100 pounds of meth, Murphy said. He added that only a major drug cartel is capable of pulling off a $1.5 million dollar operation like that.
“This is what we normally find in the jungles of Mexico, not a home in Marietta,” said Murphy.
Murphy said agents have identified the cartel but were not ready to name it specifically Wednesday.
They did arrest two men inside the home during Tuesday’s raid. They are believed to be Raul Ernesto Morales and Anthony Alfredo Revolorio.
Investigators said they both had Guatemalan passports.
“These guys were key, key parts of the operation,” said Murphy.
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DEA Atlanta division believes the cartel contracted the pair to handle the chemistry side of the business in Metro-Atlanta.
Agents said the amount of explosives and chemicals in the home made the meth lab capable of exploding next to homes and elementary schools.
One woman who lives there described the smell of meth every morning. Another said it is not the first raid at the home.
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Agents said they are digging deeper, and more arrests could come out of the case.
Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents here are working to find out when the men arrived here, if they checked in with border patrol and where they crossed the border.
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