South Carolina Drug Bust Yields Over 2,000 Pounds Of Marijuana, Plus Cocaine And Cash

Looks like Miami isn’t the only home of Cocaine Cowboys. A drug bust in Richland County, SC last week turned up 2,000 pounds of marijuana, two pounds of cocaine and a whole lot of cash. The drugs were discovered after some fool got caught driving around with 40 pounds of pot in Greenville. Look under the hood for details.
The State Law Enforcement Division and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department are investigating a large drug discovery at a home.

Officers and agents responded to a home on Roberson Street. That’s located just off Blue Ridge Terrace, north of Interstate 20. Deputies say they arrested 23-year-old Celso Vasquez after he tried to run out of the house as investigators were coming in.

Inside, officers say they found 2,000 pounds of marijuana, and a little more than two pounds of cocaine. “Today was kind of a fun day. We got the cash, we got the guns, we got the bad guy, we got the dope. Tomorrow starts the hard work, where you gotta have deputies and SLED agents and police officers with feet on the ground. We’ve got a lot of information to run down,” says Capt. Roger Heaton with SLED.

Agents had been up for several hours by Thursday afternoon, tracking down all of those wins. It all started yesterday with a traffic stop in Greenville, where about 40 pounds of marijuana were discovered. “The officers didn’t drop it and let it go right there, they went ahead and continued the investigation, continued to develop information,” says Heaton.

That led law enforcement to a home on Roberson Street, along with Richland County deputies and City of Columbia police. Authorities believe those drugs, along with the three duffel bags full of cash, are a wake-up call to our state. “When we talk about the mexican drug war, it’s impacting us here. It’s impacting here in the Columbia area every single day,” says Sheriff Leon Lott.

While getting all this off the streets puts a big dent in the drug industry, there’s still more to go. Says SLED Director Reggie Lloyd, “They’re gonna continue to work this case backwards, as Sheriff Lott said, find out who else is involved, where those individuals are and bring them to justice as well.”

Investigators know they need all the help they can get. “When we work together – law enforcement, citizens and everybody, we become a force multiplier,” says Chief Tandy Carter.

Two other locations are also part of the investigation: a home off of nearby Hutchinson Street, and a home in the Dentsville area.

An additional $1,185,964 was seized in a raid of another house that was part of the same operation later the same week.

Wonder what happens to operations like these when South Carolina starts talking about legalization and taxing for recession dollars?