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Drug stash houses raided near Downtown Atlanta attractions

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Updated  October 20, 2022 5:53pm EDT
Downtown
FOX 5 Atlanta

Body cam video shows Atlanta police raid drug stash houses near popular family attractions

Police confiscated two kilos of Xanax. School buses pull up to the apartment complex where the stash house is located on an hourly basis.

ATLANTA - Law enforcement officers are encountering drug operations in places where you might not expect criminal activity. In Downtown Atlanta, police shut down two separate stash houses in a luxury housing complex. That property is in the same block as the Children's Museum of Atlanta and other popular attractions where families gather.

Atlanta officers used technology and overwhelming force to take down a drug operation. Police say officers confiscated Adderall and more than two kilos of Xanax. Officer removed bags and bags of pills with a high-profit margin for the seller at $20 per pill.

"The reason people are taking it, a lot of times in the clubs, they will use it to counter the effect of MDNA, molly, ecstasy, so it will bring them down from that high," said Atlanta Police Narcotics Supervisor Lt. R. Albertini.

That is one part of the story. The other is where the stash house is located. School buses on an hourly basis pull up nearby to the complex. The alleged drug players were operating in the heart of the downtown attractions loop with attractions like the World of Coca-Cola, the Georgia Aquarium, and literally next door to the Children's Museum of Atlanta.

"It’s near places where families will gather, so there is that propensity for violence that we really have to be careful of. Also, just because they’re not dealing it out on the street like they did years ago with crack cocaine, it’s very much just as dangerous," said Lt. Albertini.

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Atlanta police are searching for the man in the basketball jersey seen in this image. (Atlanta Police Department)

What police know from trends is what can happen at a hot, profitable drug house.

"A lot of times you’re looking at robberies, so when people get robbed, there’s a propensity of them…violence… of innocent bystanders getting hurt," said Lt. Albertini. "Also in the apartment, we were able to seize a Glock 19, 9mm firearm," said Lt. Albertini.

Police released an image of the man they are looking for wearing a basketball jersey. Investigators say he accepted the mailed package of pills.

They also have charged an occupant of the apartment.