Destined for Columbus and other areas, about $1 million in narcotics was taken out of circulation Tuesday.
About 5 kilograms of cocaine were netted and two men arrested when officers with local, state and federal agencies raided a house at 1601 College Street. The raid was a joint effort by the Columbus-Lowndes Metro Narcotics Unit, Columbus Police Department, Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
Gerardo Ortiz Mendez, 31, of 2409 Pine Lake Circle, No. 235, of Austin, Texas. was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine.
The identity of the second suspect arrested has not been released.
Mendez is currently in the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center. Both men will be transported to Oxford to face federal charges.
About 2 p.m. agents moved in on the red brick home in the 1500 block of College Street. Traffic was blocked from 15th Street to railroad tracks beside the Lowndes County Juvenile Detention Center.
Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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