North Charleston raids net 3 suspects, cocaine, marijuanaBy Glenn Smith (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Alan Hawes A North Charleston narcotics detective displays 10 pounds of marijuana seized in a drug raid Monday. North Charleston police seized about 5 pounds of cocaine worth nearly a quarter-million dollars on the street during an undercover operation Tuesday that led to the arrest of two suspected drug runners, authorities said. The bust marked the second large drug seizure for police this week. On Monday, police grabbed 10 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $50,000 during a search of a Dorchester Road apartment, police said. "This was important," Deputy Police Chief Reggie Burgess said. "We kept drugs from getting on the streets of North Charleston." Tuesday's arrests by the narcotics unit and SPEED Team resulted from information police received about two men working as drug mules or runners to bring large quantities of cocaine into the North Charleston area, Burgess said. Police think the cocaine was coming from Georgia. Investigators mined informants to learn more about the men and then arranged a meeting to buy about 2 kilograms for about $50,000 Tuesday at a location on Rivers Avenue, Burgess said. Once the cash was exchanged for drugs, police moved in and arrested the two men, he said. Santamaria M. Yanez, 37, of Summerville, and Pineda M. Gutierrez, 21, of Hanahan, are charged with trafficking cocaine, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and two counts of possession of a controlled substance near a school, police said. Monday's arrest stemmed from efforts to address citizen complaints about criminal activity around St. James Crossing apartments on Dorchester Road, Burgess said. Through their investigation, police learned of an alleged drug supplier who was living in the complex, Burgess said. With the help of an informant, undercover officers arranged to buy 14.6 grams of cocaine from the tenant on Nov. 21, police said. That buy helped police secure a search warrant for the property, Burgess said. They searched the apartment on Monday and seized the marijuana, a .25-caliber pistol and a Chevrolet sport utility vehicle, he said. Sergio R. Uc-Bojorquez, 26, is charged with trafficking marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute near a school and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, police said. "This investigation was really requested by the community," Burgess said. "The community needed us to do something, and we responded to it." Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 23 comment(s)
Posted by poorboy on November 29, 2007 at 6:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
sounds like our illegal guest aren't just taking jobs Americans "will not do"?
Posted by Hey_U_Guys on November 29, 2007 at 7:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Did anyone read the offbeat story about the FHP finding 60 lbs of marijuana on the highway? They said if anyone lost it please contact them. I wonder if some idiot will!!! LOL.
Posted by tripsa on November 29, 2007 at 7:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
LOL
Posted by jammer on November 29, 2007 at 7:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"5 pounds of cocaine worth nearly a quarter-million dollars on the street"
wow... I remember when it cost only $800 for 5 lbs... lol
Posted by Hey_U_Guys on November 29, 2007 at 7:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
jammer: ....? LOL
Posted by SCVOTER on November 29, 2007 at 8:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
poorboy???how do you know these men are illegal? I think someone might be a little racist.
Posted by Early on November 29, 2007 at 8:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Illegal, Illegal, Illegal immigrants probably from Columbia. Lock down our boarders, put up a double fence around the whole boarder. Kick all out who are illegal and sucking our welfare, school systems and hospitals dry. Out with all of them. If they want to pay the fee, provide the documents and wait the time, come on in.
It's people JUST LIKE THEM that cause the murder rate in NC to be so high. See, it's not all just young black men.
Posted by Early on November 29, 2007 at 9:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey man, anybody find my bag I lost in Florida?
Posted by Hey_U_Guys on November 29, 2007 at 9:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
LMAO @ Early.
Posted by Brant on November 29, 2007 at 10:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
sigh...why don't you guys just go ahead and make an entire section of the paper for the crime in North Charleston? It seems every time I see a link about a shooting or drug bust or whatever, it's always in that end of town.
Just put everything under one North Charleston Crime Blotter and save a lot of space.
Posted by cuffeesgurl on November 29, 2007 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Can we say "bigot" and "isolationsit" to the postings? Legalize recreational drugs (e.g. pot) & cut crime. What did prohibition get us? And the "war" on drugs??? What a freaking joke and all on my dime. Illegal aliens? Are any of you Native? I am and as far as I'm concerned your all illegal.
Posted by Early on November 29, 2007 at 11:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My ass cuffeesgurl, Cherokee and a little white. GET RID OF ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS!!!!!!Are you one of them?
Posted by eyfigueroa on November 29, 2007 at 11:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
early, early, early...
what did i tell you about traveling with too many bags!
cuffeesgurl: as a libertarian , i too feel that the war on drugs has been a dismal failure and that full prohibition isn't working.
but i also believe that illegal immigration is a problem and whether or not these men came here in a van driven by 'coyotes' or if they were born here (and yes some of us were born here) doesn't negate the fact that they are criminals.
if you are a native american, you of all people should see the problem with people coming across the border illegally and them bringing a host of problems with them.
Posted by ImplantedYankee on November 29, 2007 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
16,885 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2005 tells me that ending prohibition didn't exactly erase crime.
Posted by mppowell on November 29, 2007 at 3:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Does anyone else agree with decriminalizing marijuana?Or other soft drugs?I'd like to here from y'all about this.Most of you have some excellent insight that i'm interested in.How many of you feel that we should adopt a stance similar to Vancouver,Ca or Amsterdam? Personally I would love to see the Leaf decriminalized in S.C and watch how a reduced Prison burden and freed up funding can affect us.We have such a brain drain in this state b/c qualified people can't get good jobs due to marijuana convictions.And to all you ignorants out there,i'm not saying we should give drugs to kids. Obviously there should be some regulation and taxation, not incarceration for adults.Do you realize that in Amsterdam the biggest problem they face (other than an immigration issue with muslims) is the increasing precentage of underage drinking.In a country where a 15 yr old can score the best indica around quasi-legally,marijuana isn't the drug of choice.This should be considered when your local Repubelickan/Dummycrat starts to espouse the evils of marijuana.
Posted by mppowell on November 29, 2007 at 3:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
that was an excellent quote by Roosevelt.But did he live by that mantra? How integral was he to equal rights?Nothing personal against you maddiebandme. I would never have come across that if you hadn't posted it
Posted by nobody on November 29, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
TO mppowell:
16,885 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2005 compared to 0 marijuana fatalities ever recorded in history - God created marijuana and man created alcohol, who do you trust?
There has never been a marijuana overdose ever recorded in history. More people die from caffine each year and over the counter drugs. It's humanly impossible to overdose on marijuana according to 5,000 years of use in recorded history.
Alcohol is a marjor contributor to violence in our society, pot smokers do not harm society, they don't start fights in bars or crash into innocent people killing them, what about the domestic violence associated with our legal drug alcohol.
Marijuana being illegal makes no sense, but it's big money that keeps it down. For years oil companies and other mega entities with super control over the going ons in this country such as Proctor and Gamble view marijuana and hemp as threats to their products. Hemp has so many uses and it's not bad for the environment.
Why not embrace it? Cultures have been using it for pain relief and spiritual reasons for thousands of years, and in the 1930s the U.S. decides to make it illegal in an effort to curb Mexican immigration during the Depression. The government created a campaign to spread lies about the dangers of marijuana and the rest is history - see Reefer Madness. Has making marijunana stopped Mexican immigration, NO.
Personally I believe more people should smoke or eat marijuana products, I believe our country should legalize it, make it legal as corn and free up the prison space for real criminals like meth cooks, murders, rapists and child molesters.
20 Percent of Americans smoke marijuana, that's 1 out of 5 people walking around. Making it criminal has created criminals out of people who are otherwise law abiding productive citizens. That's bad for society, much worse than smoking some pot.
Having marijuana illegal makes it a black market product. Otherwise good citizens have to go to the black market to get a bag of inspiration. These otherwise good law abiding tax payers are introduced to some unsavory characters dealing in the black market, which then puts marijuana in the position to be a gateway drug. Through the black market marijuana smokers sometimes are exposed to other types of harder drugs. If it were legal, and they could just grow their own, they would, and marijuana wouldn't be this "gateway" as they have labeled it.
I believe there needs to be more studies about the benefits of marijuana use.
I could write a whole book about this subject...
Posted by Girleygirl on November 29, 2007 at 4:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To nobody- I know alot of people are going to be very mad at me about this but the reason why they won't legalize it is because another country will enjoy the riches off of marijuana. Don't get me wrong your explanation is one of the best ones I heard in a long time and it makes sense.
Posted by preachlove on November 29, 2007 at 10:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
maddiebandme - Thanks for the joke about Roosevelt. He sure didn't do anything to help with civl rights now did he? Eqaulity? I won't break out the history books on what was going on during that era. The injustices are too much mention in this post.
Posted by charlene68 on November 30, 2007 at 8:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry you guys !!! they are legal and they are from Puerto Rico !!! hahahahahhahaaaaaaaaaa
Posted by mppowell on November 30, 2007 at 10:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
amen,nobody,amen..
Posted by MinoritySouth on November 30, 2007 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Citizen Nobody, I agree with you and ironically, prescriptions drugs (oxycotin and the like, are derivative forms of illicit drugs giving similar effects and addictions) are selling like hotcakes but in those instances the government typically gets a cut of the profit through taxation and regulation and HUGE HUGE HUGE kickbacks from the Drug Lobbyist and then when the Legislator's term is over he or she completely hand up any allegiance to tax payers and go work for the Drug Lobbyist making even more money but most citizens are ok with that but it burns the nape of peoples neck to see urban drug dealers making a little money.("little money" in comparison to the money drug lobbyist spend on our government or in comparison to the money made by those at the apex of illicit drug organizations) I see, personally, both systems as equal from a moral point of view but I agree marijuana is not in the same class as oxycotin or alcohol etc. etc.., in the amount of danger it presents to society. The biggest danger marijuana presents is a homegrown substitute for many pharmaceuticals regulated by the government and sold to us by drug companies, so I am told anyway, from my friends who have smoked it... really...
Posted by mppowell on November 30, 2007 at 3:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
the only dangers the only dangers in smoking marijuana are...what was I talking about?