COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a metro-area mechanics shop and seized drugs worth millions of dollars.
Channel 2's Chris Jose learned the trafficking suspect is accused of smuggling 15 pounds of liquid methamphetamine from Mexico.
When Jose arrived at the shop Monday, he found agents with their guns out surrounding the repair shop.
Once things calmed down, Jose was able to talk the son of the man who was taken into custody.
Cristian Garcia walked Jose back to a blue semitruck behind his father's auto repair shop on Atlanta Street in Marietta.
Agents with the DEA and the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office said they found 150 pounds of liquid meth hidden in the gas tank of the tractor-trailer.
Roquilio Garcia is accused of trafficking the dangerous drugs.
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“Is your dad a cartel member?” Jose asked Garcia’s son Cristian.
“No,” Christian Garcia answered.
On Friday, Jose was there as deputies and undercover agents swarmed the business and seized the liquid meth.
“How are they going to assume something if they don’t know? What proof do they have? That’s why we got a lawyer to prove he’s innocent,” Cristian Garcia said.
High-ranking law enforcement sources told Jose that the drugs were smuggled from Mexico and that Roquilio Garcia may have had plans to build a meth lab in the business.
Sources said it’s not 100 percent definitive that Roquilio Garcia has ties to the cartel but did say there’s evidence he’s a part of “large-scale criminal organization” from Mexico.
“He’s a good man. Hardworking man,” Cristian Garcia said.
He told Jose that his father is no drug trafficker, just a small business owner.
Sources say the investigation started in October.
On Thursday, agents said they watched the truck pull in and allegedly saw Roquilio Garcia offload the drugs.
Deputies arrested the 45-year-old father 24 hours later.
Cristian Garcia said a customer dropped off the semitruck for repairs.
Investigators say the 150 pounds of liquid meth produces about 600 pounds of crystal meth. Officials said the drugs would have a street value of $10 million.
Cox Media Group
