FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2000
CONTACT: SID GAULDEN, 803-896-8755
HIGHWAY PATROL ACE TEAM MAKES ITS LARGEST
MARIJUANA DRUG BUST IN JASPER COUNTY
COLUMBIA - The South Carolina Department of Public Safety Highway Patrol Division announced details today of the largest marijuana seizure ever made by its ACE Team drug interdiction unit. This makes the fourth major drug seizure by the Highway Patrol since April, and brings the combined street value of those seizures to nearly $92 million.
"These major drug stops by the ACE Team send a message to the drug community that our highways will not be used as a pipeline for their drug activity," said Gov. Jim Hodges. "We are committed to taking these predatory criminals off our streets before these drugs reach our communities and children."
The latest drug seizure, on September 20, yielded more than 442 pounds of marijuana with a street value of about $1.1 million. The ACE Team had stopped a 1997 Dodge Stratus driven by Linda Lee Benavidez, of Lodi, Calif., at the number eight mile marker in Jasper County for following too closely.
A K-9 unit was brought in to help conduct the search of the car and found the marijuana in the trunk of the car wrapped in cellophane and dryer sheets. Benavidez, 42, has been charged with trafficking marijuana. The car was travelling from Arkansas to Savannah, Ga.
The case has been turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
In August, the ACE Team made two back-to-back stops in Greenville County, which resulted in the seizure of a combined 437 pounds of marijuana.
In August, the ACE Team seized nearly 1,000 pounds of methanphetamines with a street value of nearly $45 million.
In April, the ACE team seized 1,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $45 million.
"I am so proud of our ACE Team for their continuing efforts in taking drugs and dangerous criminals off our highways," said DPS Director B. Boykin Rose. "We are committed to continuing our increased enforcement in all areas - from speeding and aggressive driving to drug interdiction."
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