UPDATE
Sheriff Terrell: Major Mexican drug cartel pipeline ran through Habersham County
Two alleged drug traffickers were allowed to walk free following a drug raid in Alto.
Officials say 35-year-old Christopher Abbott and 35-year-old Brooke Hicks were detained then released Wednesday at the scene of the raid at 215 Cornwall Place.
While executing a search warrant agents seized over 160 grams of heroin, according to Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office (ARDEO) Special Agent in Charge Trent Hillsman. The amount is forty times what’s required for a trafficking charge in the state of Georgia. The heroin has a street value of around $20,000.
Personnel from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office and Alto Police Department assisted ARDEO in the raid.
In addition to the heroin, officers seized illegal prescription pills and about an ounce of methamphetamine. They also recovered four firearms, scales, cutting agents, packaging materials, and other drug paraphernalia, Hillsman says.
Abbott and Hicks both face heroin trafficking and drug possession charges.
According to Hillsman they were released “pending further investigation and GBI Division of Forensic Science (DOFS) testing.” He did not explain further. The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office deferred comment to ARDEO. Now Habersham has requested more information from the drug task force but officials have not responded.
Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell says he’s proud of the work agents from the sheriff’s office and ARDO put into the case. “There will be more arrest made as the investigation continues,” he says.
ARDEO encourages citizens to report any suspicious drug activity via Facebook IM or at 706-348-7410 or contact your local Sheriff’s Office or Police Department.
