The following article, Drone Shop Raided, Authorities Believe They’ve Busted Largest Criminal Operation of Its Kind in State’s History, was first published on another website.Flag And Cross.
Law enforcement officials in Georgia have taken down what they say was a major criminal enterprise that played a key role in drug smuggling and other criminal activities in the Peach State.
The announcement was made last week by the Georgia Department of Corrections, which detailed its “Operation Skyhawk” featuring raids targeting a network of criminal enterprises, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta.
The department said that the operation uncovered one segment of the criminal network in the form of a Gwinnett County business called Thunder Drones, a company that repairs and sells drones. It said the operators of Thunder Drones were responsible for using drones to drop cell phones and drugs into Georgia prisons.
GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver said investigators seized more than 50 drones in two raids on Thursday, and the owner of Thunder Drones, Robert Schwartz, was arrested.
“This will be the largest gang RICO case in the history of the state of Georgia and it originated by the men and women here at the Georgia Department of Corrections,” Oliver told the media, according to WSB.
Mark Winne, an investigative reporter with WSB, was at Thunder Drones when the arrests were made. He asked Schwartz for comment as the man was led away in handcuffs.
Schwartz professed innocence of any criminal activities, saying, “All I do is repair drones. I’ve been doing, I’ve been repairing radio-controlled things for 50 years. I don’t know what they’re even here for.”
The WSBTV report is below:
The operation netted 150 arrests and led to the seizure of more than $7 million in contraband, according to the Georgia Sun, an online news site based in Roswell, Georgia.
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