A routine traffic stop in DeKalb County on August 4 turned into a sprawling drug bust after deputies say they found between 220 and 250 pounds of suspected marijuana stuffed inside a van, kicking off a search that ended with six people in custody, a storage unit full of narcotics, and $40,000 in cash.
The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office says the traffic stop led investigators to a local storage facility, where deputies executed a search warrant and recovered 1,200 boxes containing synthetic THC, psilocybin mushrooms and additional suspected marijuana products, according to CBS News Atlanta. Deputies also seized more than $40,000 in cash from the operation. Investigators estimated the street value of the suspected marijuana alone at more than $2.8 million.
Six suspects were taken into custody without incident and transported to the DeKalb County Jail, the outlet reports. Those arrested and identified in connection with the case are Nooruddin T. Rajwani, Safin T. Rajwani, Aadil Samnani, Raheen S. Dadani, Piyush Vadasariya and Salim Vadsaria. All six face charges that include trafficking marijuana, possession of marijuana over an ounce, and possession of a controlled substance, per the same account. Authorities have not released further details about how the group is connected or the specific roles each suspect allegedly played.
Sheriff Credits Interagency Cooperation
DeKalb County Sheriff Melody M. Maddox, who became the county's 50th sheriff and its first woman in the role upon her appointment in December 2019 before winning full terms in 2020 and again in November 2024, according to 11Alive, credited outside partners for helping crack the case. “Interagency cooperation is important in disrupting the trafficking of illegal narcotics into communities,” Maddox said, and she also expressed appreciation for the cooperation of statewide law enforcement partners. The sheriff's office operates the DeKalb County Jail in Decatur, which serves as the county's primary detention facility for felony arrests, per the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office.
The investigation remains ongoing, and no additional information about the source of the drugs or the intended distribution network has been released.
Georgia's Harsh Trafficking Thresholds Apply
The volume of marijuana recovered in this case puts the suspects well within Georgia's felony trafficking threshold. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-13-31(c), possessing or transporting between 10 and 2,000 pounds of marijuana is classified as felony trafficking, carrying a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. By contrast, simple possession of an ounce or less is only a misdemeanor, while anything beyond that escalates to a felony punishable by one to 10 years, according to the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency.
The psilocybin mushrooms recovered in the storage unit carry their own steep exposure. Georgia classifies psilocybin as a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning a first-offense possession charge can bring two to 15 years in prison. Meanwhile, the synthetic THC products seized fall under a rapidly tightening regulatory landscape: Senate Bill 494, which took effect in 2024, capped Delta-9 THC edibles at 10 milligrams per serving and required age-21 verification for retail sales. Governor Brian Kemp went further in May 2026, signing Senate Bill 33 to ban the sale and distribution of products containing more than 0.3 percent total THC or synthetic intoxicating cannabinoids.
Part of a Broader Pattern in DeKalb County
This is not the first time a traffic stop in DeKalb County has unraveled into a major narcotics case this year. In April, a routine stop escalated into a high-speed pursuit on I-20 that ended with the recovery of 43 pounds of marijuana, ecstasy and handguns. And in June, a DeKalb County jury convicted a local resident for trafficking 135 pounds of marijuana and weapons, handing down a 20-year prison sentence and a $1.1 million fine in a case Hoodline covered as the Ellenwood drug house bust.
Earlier this year, federal agents and metro Atlanta law enforcement also disrupted a multi-kilogram fentanyl distribution pipeline that involved coordinated storage searches paired with a DeKalb County traffic stop, underscoring how often local stops become entry points into larger interdiction efforts across the region.
