Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jan 2003
Source: High Point Enterprise (NC)
Copyright: 2003 High Point (N.C.) Enterprise
Contact:  http://www.hpe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/576
Author: Pat Kimbrough

OFFICIALS NAB 5, CONFISCATE 1,445 POUNDS OF MARIJUANA

Randolph County authorities arrested five men and seized 1,445 pounds of
marijuana from a residence south of Asheboro Tuesday.

"It's the biggest (marijuana bust) ever done in Randolph, I'd say," said
Sheriff Litchard Hurley. "It's certainly the biggest since I've been (in
office)." The drugs carry an estimated street value of $1.445 million.

Acting on a tip, detectives from the sheriff's office's vice and narcotics
unit, along with members of the Asheboro Police Department Vice Narcotics
Unit, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Community Crimes Task Force,
went to a house on N.C. 134 in southern Randolph to execute a search warrant
Tuesday night.

Hurley described the abandoned structure as a "stash house" which the
suspects were using solely for drug activity. He said he didn't know who
owned the house.

As the detectives approached a man in the front yard, four other men fled
the house through a window. All five suspects were eventually apprehended
with the help of police dogs, according to a sheriff's office news release.

"They were going through (the drugs) all out in the open at the time we got
there," said the sheriff. "It was all out in a big room."

In addition to the drugs, detectives seized four vehicles, a 12-gauge pump
shotgun and drug paraphernalia.

The five suspects, all of whom were identified as illegal aliens, each were
charged with two counts of trafficking in marijuana, possession with intent
to sell and deliver marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. The
suspects are: Jaimes Sait, 30, of Brooklyn Avenue, Ramseur; Antonio Nunez
Hernandez, 19, of Charlotte; Reyonaldo Hernandez Ochoa, 32, of Atlanta;
Israel Sanchez Pineda, 21, of Gainesville, Ga., and Arturo Arniz, 32, of
Mexico.

Each is being held at the Randolph County Jail under a $500,000 secured
bond.

Hurley said that, in his recollection, the largest marijuana seizure in the
county before Tuesday's bust was a raid of a motor home several years ago
that netted about 700 pounds of the drug.

This week's arrests illustrate how the drug trade has changed in recent
years and how difficult it's become for agencies like his to stop the flow
of contraband, said Hurley.

"Local law enforcement's going to have to have more help from the federal
people," he said. "Our big raids the last couple of years, nine out of 10 of
(the suspects) aren't even American citizens. ... There's no way we can do
it all in Randolph. It's got to be stopped at the border."
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