Month-long joint investigation between Horry and Brunswick Counties leads to drug bust

CALABASH, N.C. (WECT) - Following a month-long investigation targeting methamphetamine trafficking, Brunswick County Narcotics Office Vice and Narcotics Unit and the Horry County Police department have arrested and charged two Myrtle Beach residents after uncovering more than 2,000 grams of drug paraphernalia.

On Friday, April 29, BCSO Vice and Narcotics Unit and BCSO Selective Enforcement Unit agents conducted a traffic stop at Highway 17 near Thomasboro Road on a Dodge Ram truck.

Police subsequently arrested 43-year-plld Hassan A. Benhamedane, the driver, and 39-year old Andrew Ryan Morton, the passenger.

Per a release from the Horry County Police Department, the items retrieved from the Dodge Ram’s truck were:

157.9 grams of methamphetamine
44.3 grams of heroin
6.5 grams of marijuana
10.2 grams of crack cocaine
11.6 grams of pressed fentanyl pills
24 dosage units of alprazolam
5 amphetamine pills
2 unknown pills

A further search warrant at Benhamedane’s home on Old Bryan Road lead to investigators finding additional items, including:

1,438.5 grams of marijuana
224.7 grams of cocaine
37.1 grams of heroin
40.2 grams of crack cocaine
180.76 grams of methamphetamine
More than 100 grams of Xanax and pressed fentanyl
More than $5,000 in US currency

Both Benhamedane and Morton were taken to Brunswick County Detention Facility, where they are facing identical charges of:

4 counts each of trafficking heroin
2 counts each of trafficking methamphetamine
2 counts each of conspiring to traffic heroin
Conspiring to traffic methamphetamine
Possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver heroin
Possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver methamphetamine
Possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver cocaine
Possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver Schedule IV controlled substances
Possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver Schedule VI controlled substances
Possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver Schedule I controlled substances
Maintaining a vehicle for use, sale, or delivery of a controlled substance
Possession with intent to manufacture, sell, or deliver Schedule II controlled substances
Possession of drug paraphernalia

“This sends a strong message to those trafficking drugs across the NC/SC border,” the Brunswick County Sheriff’s office stated in a recent Facebook post. “There are no jurisdictional boundaries and law enforcement agencies across county lines, and state lines are working to keep them out of our communities.”