A major meth trafficking operation with deep ties to North Georgia has led to two arrests in Norcross.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) says the arrests are part of a long-running investigation into a drug trafficking organization (DTO) linked to Georgia Department of Corrections inmate Kevin Lee Daniel Mashburn, 41, of Blue Ridge in Fannin County. Investigators say Mashburn’s organization has been responsible for moving large amounts of methamphetamine along the I-515/575 corridor into Cherokee, Pickens, Gilmer, Fannin, and Union counties.
Over the past year, more than a dozen suspects connected to the Mashburn DTO have been arrested, and authorities have seized over 35 kilograms of meth, according to GBI Special Agent in Charge Ken Howard of the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office (ARDEO).
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The latest arrests came this week after agents with the ARDEO, the FBI Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force, and the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at a home on Colony Park Drive in Norcross. Inside, they say they found a meth lab converting oils into crystal meth for distribution, along with roughly four kilograms of suspected meth, cocaine, ecstasy pills, and a firearm.
Two suspects — Arturo Perez-Huizache, 40, and Carla Michelle Abarca Jiminez, 22, both of Guerrero, Mexico — are now charged with trafficking methamphetamine.
The case has drawn support from law enforcement agencies across North Georgia, including sheriff’s offices in Fannin, Gilmer, Union, Pickens, and Cherokee counties. Officials say the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.
The GBI is encouraging anyone with information on drug activity to call ARDEO at (706) 348-7410 or submit an anonymous tip online at gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online.
