Large amount of drugs seized in south Georgia investigation

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From staff reports

TIFTON — Members of the GBI Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office, Tift County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Jose Luis Pena-Ferraras, 35, and Ismil Rodriguez-Aybar, 43, both of Lawrenceville, recently after the seizure of five kilograms of methamphetamine, one kilogram of heroin, and a handgun.

Ferraras and Aybar were arrested in the parking lot of a Tifton hotel and charged with trafficking methamphetamine and heroin. Ferraras also was charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. A search of their vehicle led to the seizures.

Based on a lengthy investigation, Ferraras and Aybar were identified as suppling methamphetamine and heroin to multiple communities in south Georgia, including Tifton and Albany.

The GBI Southwestern Regional Drug Enforcement Office is in Albany and services 42 counties in southwest Georgia. The office is a collaborative effort between the GBI, the Albany Police Department, the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office, the Dougherty County Police Department, the Dougherty County District Attorney’s Office, and the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office, and is partially funded with Byrne/JAG grant funds.

Tips can be submitted to the GBI by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

Special Photo: GBI

Author

Except for a brief period, Albany Herald Editor Carlton Fletcher has been a newspaperman, working as Sports Writer/Columnist for the weekly Ocilla Star, as Sports Writer/Sports Editor with The Tifton Gazette, and as Sports Writer/Copy Editor/News Reporter/Features Editor and Editor of the paper. He has won numerous awards for sports, news, business and column writing, including a first-place Business Writing award in last year’s Georgia Press Association awards competition.

Read Carlton’s stories.

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