I-75 operation nabs suspects, nets drugs, guns

Published 11:14 pm Friday, July 20, 2007

Drug runners and violent felons can be found among vacationing families on the same Interstate each day.

That’s why officers from the Tunnel Hill Police Department, Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office and the Interstate Crime Enforcement task force from Butts County spent this week monitoring I-75 at exit 341.

From Monday through Thursday, the group of seven officers seized $2.1 million in illegal drugs, made 10 felony arrests and served a felony warrant on a man accused of violating probation on an attempted murder charge out of Knoxville, Tenn., according to the Tunnel Hill Police Department.

The group also seized $22,000, three cars, four guns, 45 pounds of cocaine, 31 pounds of marijuana and 118 tablets of ecstasy.

“I feel like it was a huge success,” Tunnel Hill Police Chief Roy Brunson said of the operation. “And we’ll probably do it again in the future.”

Exit 341 was chosen because of its proximity to Tunnel Hill, Brunson said. The K-9 team from Tunnel Hill and the DUI task force from Whitfield County joined the Butts County task force, which is a unit deputized with jurisdiction around the state, Brunson said.

Butts County is south of Atlanta I-75.

“Over the years we have had K-9 units doing interdiction on Interstates and we were one of the first to be involved in it in the early ’80s,” said Maj. John Gibson of the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, adding that other responsibilities have caused the department to cut back on Interstate surveillance.

“Chief Brunson spearheaded this and we were in a support role.”

Brunson said a group of K-9 officers from Tunnel Hill met officers from Butts County at a training session in south Georgia.

The officers from Butts County said they would be willing to help the Tunnel Hill officers and sheriff’s deputies in Whitfield County run a surveillance operation.

“This unit is trained in observation, on how (drug runners) maneuver,” Brunson said. “They look for differences in their driving, from improper lighting to tinted windows to following too closely.”

Officers began Monday in shifts throughout the day and night searching for suspicious vehicles, Brunson said.

“There’s no doubt drugs are being transported on the interstate and (what was done this week) is a needed enforcement technique that been used 20 odd years now and has been successful here and around the United States,” Gibson said.

Other arrests include: Marcellus D. Crocker of Lilburn for weaving and possession of ecstasy with and intent to distribute; Fidel R. Vetino of Powder Springs for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; Khaled Raheem Muhammad of Rivera Beach, Fla., for possession of tools for the commission of crime.

Ardis JaJuan Toney of Chattanooga was charged with driving with a suspended license, possession of marijuana, possession of ecstasy, possession of arms while trying to commit crimes, possession of arms by a convicted felon and fugitive from justice.

Timothy Roscoe Dawson of Cincinnati, Ohio, was charged with weaving and possession of marijuana and Craig Norwood Jones Jr. of Lithonia was charged with possession of arms while trying to commit crimes, violation of the window tint law and trafficking methamphetamine and marijuana.