Hall County Deputies Seize $22.5 million in Meth Hidden in Fruit Shipment; Driver Arrested

Hall County narcotics investigators seized more than 300 kilos of crystal methamphetamine after uncovering a drug load hidden inside a shipment of blackberries on a refrigerated truck parked along McEver Road last week.

The bust came early Friday, Nov. 21, after deputies with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit, working with FBI Atlanta agents, tracked a refrigerated box truck they believed had carried meth from Mexico into metro Atlanta for distribution across North Georgia. Investigators found the truck shortly before 3 a.m. outside a business in the 1400 block of McEver Road in Gainesville.

A Hall County K9 alerted to the vehicle, and deputies secured a search warrant. Inside the trailer, investigators found hundreds of tightly wrapped packages of methamphetamine buried in pallets of produce. In total, the shipment weighed roughly 661 pounds and carried an estimated street value of $22.5 million.

The driver was not with the truck when officers made the discovery, but investigators located him later the same day at his home off Browns Bridge Road. Deputies identified him as 44-year-old Gerardo Solorio-Alvarado, a native of Mexico living in Gainesville. He was arrested and booked into the Hall County Jail, where he is being held without bond on a felony trafficking charge.

Sheriff Gerald Couch said the size of the shipment underscores how aggressively drug networks continue to move narcotics through North Georgia.

“It’s disturbing to the public to realize such large amounts of illegal drugs are being trafficked into our community,” Couch said. “But I hope citizens take comfort in knowing the Hall County Sheriff’s Office has investigators who are dedicated to curbing drug activity. I’m proud of their work, and I’m thankful for our partnership with state and federal agents.”

The case remains under investigation and now also involves the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.