http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=5037
By Mary Lou Pickel
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A recent increase in drug-related kidnappings in Gwinnett County has put a spotlight on drug violence in Georgia, federal agents say.
About nine drug-related kidnappings have occurred in Gwinnett this year. The latest involved a man bound and chained in a basement in Lilburn whom federal agents rescued earlier this month.
Mexican drug cartels are moving large amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the country for distribution up the East Coast, said Rodney Benson, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Atlanta. Drug-related kidnappings have increased in the past 90 days, he said.David Nahmias, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said Gwinnett is a center of Mexican drug cartel activity in the area because of easy transportation on I-85 and a large Hispanic population where traffickers can try to blend in.
Three Gwinnett cases in the past three months have involved a kidnapping victim held in a home and released after a police rescue or a stakeout of a ransom drop.
In one case this month, police shot and killed a kidnapping suspect in a ransom pick-up. In another police arrested nine accused drug traffickers in Lawrenceville, the youngest a 16-year-old girl.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/07/20/drug.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab