DEA seizes 700-pound meth shipment in Gainesville

WUGA | By Jeff Dantre

Published July 3, 2025 at 4:41 PM EDT

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigators say they stopped 700 pounds of methamphetamine from coming into Atlanta after a traffic stop involving a tractor trailer in Gainesville.

The DEA says the huge drug seizure started with a tip claiming the drugs were hidden in the creases of cardboard boxes. The boxes concealed the drugs when they passed through the border and were scanned by X-ray machines.

Andres Jasso Junior and Rufino Perez were charged with possession of meth with intent to distribute. Perez is not a U.S. citizen and has been deported at least twice. Value of the drugs is estimated at $4.5 million.

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Jeff Dantre

Jeff has delivered morning news at WUGA Radio for more than a decade. He was among a team at CNN that won a George Foster Peabody Award in 1991 for an educational product based on the fall of the Soviet Union. He also won an Edward R. Murrow Award from Radio Television Digital News Association in 2007 for producing a series for WSB Radio on financial scams. Jeff is a graduate of the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University (MBA) and holds a BS in Business Administration from Campbell University, both in North Carolina.

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