'FLOOD' OF DRUGS FROM MEXICO LINKED TO AREA ABDUCTIONS

A recent increase in drug-related kidnappings in Gwinnett County has
put a spotlight on drug violence in Georgia, federal agents say.

About nine drug-related kidnappings have occurred in Gwinnett this
year. The latest involved a man bound and chained in a basement in
Lilburn whom federal agents rescued earlier this month.

Mexican drug cartels are moving large amounts of cocaine,
methamphetamine and marijuana into the country for distribution up
the East Coast, said Rodney Benson, the special agent in charge of
the Drug Enforcement Administration in Atlanta. Drug-related
kidnappings have increased in the past 90 days, he said.

David Nahmias, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia,
said Gwinnett is a center of Mexican drug cartel activity in the area
because of easy transportation on I-85 and a large Hispanic
population where traffickers can try to blend in.

Three Gwinnett cases in the past three months have involved a
kidnapping victim held in a home and released after a police rescue
or a stakeout of a ransom drop.

In one case this month, police shot and killed a kidnapping suspect
in a ransom pick-up. In another police arrested nine accused drug
traffickers in Lawrenceville, the youngest a 16-year-old girl.

Representatives of Mexican drug cartels in Atlanta are "clashing with
each other," the DEA's Benson said.

"That's pretty terrifying to most citizens in our state," Nahmias said.

"We are very concerned about the type of extreme violence we've seen
on the Mexican side of the border starting to come to this side of
the border and to North Georgia," Nahmias said.

Drug traffickers are also getting younger, Gwinnett County Assistant
District Attorney Keith Miles said.

"Our cases are going up," Miles said. "We got 15-year-olds out here
slinging kilos of cocaine. When that's going on in this county,
that's a big problem."

In addition to the rescues, three or four kidnapping cases in the
past six to eight months have involved victims who were released with
minimal police action, Gwinnett police spokesman Illana Spellman said.

"The victims are suspected drug runners or drug dealers, and they're
making someone mad," Spellman said. "Somehow, they came up short."

Family members of suspected drug dealers called police to say their
relative had been kidnapped, Spellman said.

In these cases, police have called the victim's cellphone and let
kidnappers know they're on the case. Then the matter resolved itself,
Spellman said.

"We find out the victim's back at home and everyone says it was a
'big misunderstanding,'" Spellman said.

Assistant District Attorney Miles says the up-tick in kidnappings is
not a "blip."

More and more drugs are coming into Gwinnett, he said.

"It's just a flood," Miles said.

"It's just a matter of time before innocent people get caught in the
crossfire," he said.

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GWINNETT A HOT SPOT

Here's a synopsis of some recent drug-related kidnappings in
Gwinnett, based on police reports, court documents and interviews.

July 11, DEA agents raided a Lilburn home and arrested three men -
illegal immigrants from Mexico - and charged them with kidnapping
and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The men beat and chained Oscar
Reynoso, 31, to a wall in a basement July 5 for nearly a week to
collect a $300,000 drug debt, the DEA said. Reynoso is a legal
resident from the Dominican Republic. The men were armed with a
military-style assault rifle and a 9mm handgun, the DEA said. The
youngest charged with kidnapping was 19 years old.

July 7, Gwinnett County police shot and killed alleged kidnapper
Richard Garcia, 23, during a ransom drop at a Waffle House parking
lot near Lawrenceville. They arrested Jose Ramirez-Perez, 24, who was
in the car with Garcia, and charged him with false imprisonment in
the kidnapping. Relatives say Juan David Arce-Flores was kidnapped
July 1 in Sandy Springs by men dressed as police. Arce-Flores escaped
from a home at 41 Bethesda Church Road in Lawrenceville after the
ransom drop-off went bad. He is a suspected drug dealer and is in
Gwinnett jail on charges of giving a false identity, police said.

May 13, Gwinnett County police arrested nine people in connection
with drug trafficking and the kidnapping of a man at 3231 Hamilton
Road in Lawrenceville. Police found the victim in the house,
unharmed, as well as a 9mm Ruger handgun and about 11 kilos (or 26
pounds) of cocaine. The youngest charged with trafficking is a
16-year-old girl.

Jan. 19, Herbert Junior Higgins, 57, was found slain in his van in
the parking lot of the Wesley Paces Apartments on Jimmy Carter
Boulevard in Norcross. Previously Higgins told police he was
kidnapped Dec. 21, 2007, by four "professionals" looking for money,
who hung him by handcuffs in a warehouse and beat him. They drove
Higgins to a friend's home at 1302 Stoneybrook Drive in Tucker
because they believed the friend had money. The kidnappers opened
fire on the friend, who shot back. Higgins escaped and climbed a
fence with his handcuffs on.