GREENE COUNTY
Greene County deputies arrested two Lithonia men on multiple drug charges Feb. 22 following a traffic stop on I-20.
Amanuel Beyene, 38, and Noah Worku Ferede, 24, face charges of possession of a controlled substance, trafficking cocaine and trafficking MDMA.
According to reports obtained from the GCSO, Lt. Patrick Paquette stopped a white Toyota RAV4 with a South Carolina tag when he saw that it was following a tractor-trailer too closely in the eastbound lanes of I-20 near exit 138.
Paquette approached the vehicle on the passenger’s side and the passenger blew cigarette smoke toward him when the window was rolled down, according to the report. The passenger, later identified as Beyene told Paquette “he didn’t mean to blow smoke in his face and threw a half-smoked cigarette out the window, according to the report.
Paquette asked the driver, later identified as Ferede, for his license and registration on the vehicle.
According to Paquette’s account, the deputy smelled the odor of marijuana coming from within the vehicle.
Ferede showed Paquette a rental agreement for the vehicle. Paquette noticed the rental agreement was not in his name. Beyene said the car was rented by his cousin’s girl.
Paquette asked Ferede to step out to the rear of the car to speak with him. Ferede said the two men were headed to South Carolina to buy dogs.
Paquette asked Ferede if there were any guns or marijuana in the car and he said no.
Paquette then told Ferede that due to the odor of marijuana, he was going to conduct a probable cause search the car. Lt. Paquette then instructed Ferede to go wait 20 steps in front of the car.
Lt. Paquette made contact with Beyene and advised him that he was going to search the car, but Beyene said there was no marijuana in the car.
During the search, Paquette found a black and white duffel bag in the rear cargo area. Inside the duffel bag, Lt. Paquette found two clear plastic bags that contained marijuana and a vacuum-sealed package that contained marijuana.
Total weight of the marijuana was later determined to be approximately 3 pounds. Also, in the duffle bag was a T-Mobile shopping bag that contained a vacuum-sealed package that contained cocaine, a package wrapped in electrical tape that contained cocaine, and a clear plastic bag that contained blue pills. The total weight of the cocaine was later determined to be approximately one and a half kilograms.
The street value of cocaine varies based on location and purity, but according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, a kilogram of cocaine for nearly $50,000 a kilogram or nearly $100 per gram based on statistics compiled in 2018.
The pills Paquette found were later field tested with positive results for Fentanyl and weighed was more than 28 grams.
On the backseat, Paquette found a gray bag containing two large bags of marijuana. Beyene had more than $8,700 in cash on his person as determined later by a bank count.
Both men both were arrested and transported to the jail by Sgt. Will Smith.