Several of our deputies participated in criminal interdiction training this week which resulted in several arrests and a large drug seizure.
From Tuesday, May 28th, through Thursday, May 30th, members of the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office (Georgia) interdiction team came to Columbia County to provide updated training to our deputies in criminal interdiction. Lowndes County has long been recognized for their elite interdiction teams. Deputies from Lowndes County paired up with deputies from our agency and conducted interdiction operations primarily on I-75 and I-10. As a result of this operation, a large amount of drugs and U.S. Currency was recovered, which included a seizure of over 30 kilograms of cocaine from a single traffic stop. The estimated street value of that cocaine seizure was nearly one million dollars.
Sheriff Mark Hunter stated, “I want to thank our partners from Lowndes County for offering their time to help our deputies sharpen their skills. We have many talented deputies here, but we are always taking advantage of advanced training opportunities. Staying on top of current trends is an essential and continuing part of what we do. Our strong relationships with other agencies is what allows us the ability to partner with them for this type of training.”
The following is a summary of items recovered during the training operation.
Cocaine: 30 kilograms (Nearly $1,000,000 street value)
Xanax: 95 pills
Oxycodone: 35 grams
Arrests: 3
U.S. Currency: $20,711
