COLUMBUS, Ohio — Authorities seized eight pounds of methamphetamine from a Columbus apartment and two people were taken into custody in what the Drug Enforcement Administration is calling one of their biggest arrests in years.
“It is keeping the community safer; it is taking drugs off the street,” said DEA assistant special agent in charge, Michelle Spahn. “It is stopping them from being able to flood the streets with their poison.”
10TV was at the scene while DEA agents and troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol searched the apartment on Wednesday. Inside they found more meth than the DEA has seized in one arrest in years.
“This is huge. Obviously with the amount of meth that we took off the street not just today but throughout our investigation it is a significant amount of meth in the community. It's a bigger bust than we've had in the past couple of years of meth. These are significant dealers,” Spahn explained.
Through the investigation, the DEA seized a total of 18 pounds of meth and fentanyl with eight pounds of meth alone on Wednesday. The DEA explains it's crystal meth that was found in shard and is 99% pure.
“We are seeing a sharp rise in the distribution of meth and the amount of meth on the streets as of late, particularly they are in crystal shards. That means the purity is very, very high. That means it is highly addictive as well,” Spahn said.
The DEA explain the two men arrested have ties to a Mexican cartel but were selling in central Ohio.
Authorities are hoping these arrests will have a big ripple effect on drugs getting into your community.
“We removed a lot of dope from the streets, but also it removes them from the system, removes them from being able to have those connections in the community to distribute those to their customers,” Spahn said.
The two men have not yet been charged but they could face federal drug charges.