Police stage massive raids across SC against THC and synthetic drug industry

Hundreds of state and local law officers raided more than 70 warehouses, shops, homes and storage units across South Carolina earlier this week, law officers said. The targets were alleged to be linked to the distribution of widely sold intoxicating and allegedly illegal THC products.

Dozens of arrests were made, including approximately 10 defendants in Richland and Lexington counties, where authorities said the central warehouses and distributors of THC products were located.

In all, more than 40 law enforcement agencies took part in the operation, called “Ganjapreneur,” which was months in the making, including the federal DEA and FBI.

THC is the main active ingredient in marijuana that is responsible for the “high” in the drug and other mental and physical effects. In synthetic products, its effects can be stronger than in natural marijuana and vary widely.

Arrest warrants served alleged illegal trafficking and distribution of illegal THC products around the state.

Lawyers for the Midlands defendants appeared in court at bond hearings with their clients Thursday at the Richland County courthouse, where circuit Judge Heath Taylor set bonds. Defendants were described by law enforcement as “foreign nationals,” some of whom are naturalized citizens of the U.S. One source said they came mostly from India and Pakistan.

During Thursday’s court hearings, defense attorneys took issue with police using armed SWAT teams to conduct early morning raids, saying the lack of state laws regulating THC that make it difficult to know what’s legal and what’s illegal. One lawyer also told The State the money could have been better spent targeting crimes of violence.

On Friday morning, in a showcase press conference featuring numerous South Carolina police chiefs and sheriffs as a backdrop, Attorney General Alan Wilson and State Law Enforcement Division chief Mark Keel characterized the raids as sending a strong message to the THC sales and distribution industry that their illegal products will no longer be tolerated.

“These people are knowingly selling something they know is illegal here in South Carolina,” said Wilson, adding many THC products are marketed to not only children but also soldiers at South Carolina’s major military bases.

Wilson said during the Midlands raids early in the week that search warrants were served on six warehouses, six residences, one vape shop and two storage units. Most were in Richland County.

Charges against the Midlands defendants were contained in indictments generated by the state grand jury under the control of Creighton Waters, who successfully prosecuted Alex Murdaugh for murder in the shootings of his wife Maggie and son Paul.

Waters told reporters that the potency of today’s THC products is extraordinarily high and is apparently a leading cause of psychiatric and mental health issues in many of those who use them.

Seizures

Eight large 26-foot U-Haul box trucks of allegedly illegal products were seized at Midlands locations, totalling over 15 tons included marijuana, pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes, vapes, oils, dabs, syrups and edibles, Wilson said.

“These operations were not conducted and targeted against retail stores, who are unwittingly and unknowingly selling something that they did not know were illegal,” Wilson. “This operation was basically targeting drug trafficking operations” marketed expressly to give people the perception that they are “not only safe, but they had been approved by the DEA,” he said.

Many products have comic book type designs and are marketed to children, Wilson said. “They look like Skittles. They look like Oreos. They look like gummy bears.”

Moreover, said Wilson, there are dozens of vape shops around Fort Jackson and other military operations marketing to soldiers. “There’s a national security component.”

Wilson also said some of the products had “Approved by DEA” stamped on them when in fact DEA approved none of them.

Chief Keel

Also speaking at the press conference was SLED chief Keel, who said that 14 people in Richland and Lexington County were targeted for arrest and 12 have been arrested so far. “Of those 14 targets, 12 were foreign nationals,” Keel said.

Keel characterized the Richland and Lexington defendants as “high-level suppliers.”

Additional search warrants were executed all around South Carolina by other law agencies, Keel said. He did not say how many warrants.

“Those who traffic in drugs don’t care about they people they are trafficking it to,” said Keel, who for years has been an outspoken opponent of efforts to legalize all marijuana in South Carolina. They only care about one thing — and that’s money.”

Keel said THC products are brought into South Carolina through a “complex distribution scheme” then farmed to convenience stores and vape shops “to be sold to anyone who wants them ... No one knows what’s in these products. They are unregulated. They are untested. They are illicit. And they are THC products.”

Mike Tooley, assistant special agent in charge of DEA’s South Carolina office, said profits from the THC market are funneled to China and that Chinese marijuana operations in the U.S. are producing a much more potent version of the drug than normal marijuana.

Approximately 50 vape and smoke shops are within five miles of three of South Carolina’s largest military bases, Tooley said. This highlights “a deliberate attempt to target and impair U.S. service members,” he said. “This jeopardizes their health, careers and operational readiness,” he said.

Efforts to pass laws

Wilson, a Republican candidate in the ongoing governor’s race said minors can easily buy THC products and he didn’t know of any state laws that make selling THC products to children illegal. “We would ask the Legislature to take this seriously.”

Speaking to owners of shops that sell THC products, Waters said, “You are on notice now that we will charge you with drug traficking because that is what it is under our law.”

Also speaking at the press conference was Rep. Chris Wooten, R-Lexington, a former state trooper, who said he is working on legislation to ban minors from purchasing THC products.

“If you have a 16-, 15-, 14-year-old son or daughter, they can go into a convenience store and they can buy a beverage or consumable” that has the equivalent of numerous joints of marijuana, Wooten said.

Wooten said a bill, House Bill 3924, he’s worked on has passed the House and is now in the Senate. It has an age restriction for THC beverages and bans certain synthetics from being sold.

“To people out there who are knowingly selling something you know is illegal, we are coming for you,” Wilson said. “These things can be deadly.”

Contrary views

Shaun Kent, an attorney for one of the Midlands defendants earlier this week, said everybody knows there’s a problem with the selling of the unregulated THC products. But the best way to deal with the problem is through state legislation setting out the rules, Kent said.

Using mass arrests is not the proper way to deal with the problem, Kent said. “Just going and arresting someone is not the way to fix it. This is a legislative issue. This is a regulatory issue.”

Another problem is that distributors in South Carolina get their products from California, who represent the product as being legal, Kent said.

Attorney Seth Rose, a state Democratic representative from Columbia said, “I am shocked we are spending valuable state resources, not on violent crime, which is plaguing our state right now, but on charging people with having edible gummies and under a law which is very unclear that pertains to hemp and its regulation. It seems our priorities are out of touch, and I’m fearful that politics is playing into this.”

Another attorney representing a defendant, Alex Postic, said the people arrested are “people who read the law. They are not street dealers or the cartel. These are people who talk to SLED regularly. It seems really unfair they targeted these people. They raided them like they would raid any cartel drug dealer. My client thought they were thieves breaking into his house.”

Attorney Marion Moses said, “My clients are very astute business people. They supply food and beverages to hundreds of convenience stores. The material in question is less than three percent of my client’s business. Yet, they raided him and his family as if they were a huge drug cartel. Every product that my client is supplying to convenience stores came with a certificate of authenticity from the manufacturer certifying that it was less than .3 percent THC, which is legal. They had every reason to rely on the manufacturer’s authentication.”

A pro-hemp industry trade group, S.C. Healthy Alternatives Association, released a statement of its own through NP Strategy, a public relations agency.

“Our industry clearly needs to be regulated,” the statement said.

But, mass arrests are not the way to do it, the statement said.

“This week, multiple law-abiding business owners across South Carolina were arrested and hit with unreasonable drug trafficking charges when their businesses were swarmed by law enforcement officers and their legal products and hard-earned dollars were seized. Nothing in South Carolina’s state statutes bans or regulates the sale of hemp or hemp-derived products,” the statement said.

“Rather than expose South Carolinians to more unnecessary law enforcement action, we call on policymakers to step up and do what we’ve been asking for years – regulate the hemp industry in South Carolina, so everyone understands the rules of the game,” the statement said.

Police and defense lawyers

Law enforcement officers at Friday’s press conference included: Union County sheriff Jeff Bailey, Chester County sheriff Max Dorsey, Camden police chief Jack Rushing, Columbia police chief Skip Holbrook, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon, 16th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett, Surfside police chief Bill Mickle and North Charleston police chief Ron Camacho.

Other agencies included the FBI, the National Guard and Homeland Security Investigations — a ‘multilayered’ action, Wilson said. However, the federal agencies involved including the DEA apparently don’t intend to bring any federal charges.

Here are the known Midlands defendants and their lawyers: Zanira Safri (Matt Bodman), Shazan Ghani (Alexandra Benevento), Zeeshan Ghani (Shaun Kent), Bhavic Patel (Marion Moses), Mohamad Isa (Seth Rose), Rizwan Rashyani (Alex Postic), Fadi Zuhour (Nate Roberson), Muhammad Butt (Jason Peavy), Ahed Shafiq (Greg Harris) and Asim Pervaiz (Debbie Barbier).

This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 3:54 PM.