Gwinnett County Drug Lab Busted: Two Arrested in Methamphetamine Trafficking Operation

The GBI, Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI have arrested Arturo Perez-Huizache, 40, and Carla Michelle Abarca-Jiminez, 22, both from Guerrero, Mexico, on charges of Trafficking Methamphetamine following a search warrant executed in Norcross, Georgia.

On September 3–4, 2025, agents from the GBI Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office, FBI Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force, and Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office raided a home on Colony Park Drive. Authorities seized approximately four kilograms of suspected methamphetamine, suspected cocaine, ecstasy pills, a firearm, and uncovered a methamphetamine lab where the drugs were being processed and packaged for sale.

The arrests are part of a long-running investigation into a criminal drug trafficking organization (DTO) linked to Georgia Department of Corrections inmate Kevin Lee Daniel Mashburn, 41, of Blue Ridge. Over the past year, law enforcement has dismantled multiple operations tied to the Mashburn DTO, seizing over 35 kilograms of methamphetamine and arresting more than a dozen suspects.

Additional arrests related to this ongoing investigation are expected. Multiple agencies assisted in the operation, including the Fannin, Gilmer, Union, Cherokee, and Pickens County Sheriff’s Offices, as well as the Georgia Department of Corrections.

If you have information related to drug activity, you are encouraged to call GBI ARDEO at (706) 348-7410. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, SendSomething mobile app.

The ARDEO is a multi-agency unit that covers 30 counties in North Georgia and consists of the following Sheriff’s Offices and Police Agencies: White County, Lumpkin County, Banks County, Jackson County, Habersham County, Stephens County, Rabun County, Franklin County, Gilmer County, Fannin County, the Cleveland Police Department the Flowery Branch Police Department, and the Toccoa Police Department, along with the Georgia National GuardCounter Drug Task Force, the Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Department of Community Supervision, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.