‘Bible gift’ at Atlanta airport was actually a meth-soaked rug, feds say


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Packages containing crystal meth and a meth-soaked rug found on the Atlanta airport led to the arrest of a Georgia man, feds say. Now he faces years in jail.

Packages marked as a “Bible current” seized on the Atlanta airport actually hid a meth-soaked rug inside — and further meth, federal prosecutors say.

Now a Georgia man faces not lower than 10 years in jail and a most sentence of life in jail after the meth-filled packages had been addressed to him and mailed from Mexico, in response to the U.S. Authorized skilled’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

Chad Williamson, 42, of Fitzgerald, pleaded accountable to possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute on Sept. 8, the office launched in a Sept. 13 info launch.

This comes after Homeland Security Investigations opened the mailed packages, moreover marked as containing a “non secular image” alongside a Bible current, and situated the soaked rug and 200 grams of crystal meth on the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport Parcel Center in March 2021, in response to the discharge.

Prosecutors say the meth-soaked rug “is perhaps chemically extracted” for drug use.

McClatchy Info contacted Williamson’s authorized skilled for contact upon Sept. 13 and was awaiting a response.

“The defendant was half of an even bigger worldwide group using any means important to smuggle methamphetamine into Southwest Georgia; thankfully, federal brokers intercepted this deadly drug sooner than it might hit the streets,” U.S. Authorized skilled Peter D. Leary said in an announcement.

Methamphetamine is a stimulant answerable for virtually 17,000 overdose deaths in 2019, in response to the Services for Sickness Administration and Prevention.

On March 11, 2021, after investigators intercepted the package deal deal meant for Williamson, DEA brokers arrived at his doorstep, in response to the discharge.

Then, Williamson took a drug examine at his home administered by his probation officer and failed it, prosecutors say. Due to this, he was arrested.

Afterward, he instructed brokers that an “affiliate” had packages mailed to his deal with to ship medicine throughout the U.S., in response to prosecutors.

Whereas DEA brokers had been at Williamson’s home, he eradicated his cellphone SIM card, nonetheless investigators in the long run found it, prosecutors say.

The SIM card revealed Williamson had been texting a drug supplier saved as “Costa Chris” in his cellphone, in response to the discharge. The textual content material messages confirmed the pair discussing coordinated drug deliveries and gives, prosecutors say.

As part of Williamson’s sentencing scheduled for inside 90 days, he moreover faces a $10 million improbable, in response to the authorized skilled’s office.

Fitzgerald is about 185 miles southeast of Atlanta.

Julia Marnin is a McClatchy Nationwide Precise-Time reporter defending the southeast and northeast whereas based in New York. She’s an alumna of The College of New Jersey and joined McClatchy in 2021. Beforehand, she’s written for Newsweek, Fashionable Luxurious, Gannett and further.