CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — Editor's Note: The above video is from Feb. of 2020.
The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office has seized approximately $600,000 worth of methamphetamine in the month of October thus far, officials announced Tuesday.
On Friday, deputies seized approximately 5 kilograms, or 11.2 pounds, of meth with a street value of $176,000, officials said. The seizure came following a traffic stop in Kings Mountain.
In total, 37 pounds of meth have been seized this month, according to officials.
While the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office has not disclosed the nature of their cases, the Drug Enforcement Administration told WCNC Charlotte in 2020 the days of home cooks making meth in rural North Carolina are long gone, replaced by chemists in super labs in Mexico who are hired by drug trafficking organizations.
DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Eric Conaway said at the time the meth is shipped in liquid form to Atlanta where it's converted to crystal meth and brought to the Charlotte-area, often in tractor-trailers.
"They'll come here, some will stay and some will go on to other areas," Conaway said. "Sometimes they send their own people to establish the network or sometimes it's just to oversee the distribution network and then other times, they recruit local gangs, people that are already in the area to do their business and distribute their drugs."
Conaway said some of the meth goes to Virginia and then on to other major cities in the northeast, while some heads west to California.