A Friday search warrant in southeast Raleigh ended with one person in handcuffs and a table full of guns, drugs and cash, after officers with the Southeast District Special Enforcement Team moved in on the Riverknoll Drive area.
According to a Facebook post by the Raleigh Police Department, SET officers executed the warrant in the Riverknoll Drive area on Friday and arrested one person. The post says officers recovered more than 400 grams of suspected illegal marijuana, THC cartridges, psilocybin mushrooms and drug paraphernalia, along with six firearms, a large amount of ammunition and U.S. currency. The department publicly applauded the team, writing, “We recognize the great work of our Southeast District Special Enforcement Team (SET)!”
What Officers Say They Found
Raleigh police say the seized items line up with a slate of drug- and firearm-related charges, including possession with intent to sell and maintaining a dwelling or vehicle for drug activity, according to the Raleigh Police Department post. The social media update does not name the arrested person or list court dates, and the department says more information will be released as charges are formally filed. For now, the inventory and charge descriptions all come from that online account of the search.
SET’s Role in Raleigh Policing
The Southeast District SET is part of the Raleigh Police Department’s Special Operations units, which the City of Raleigh describes as focusing on violent crime, drug distribution and neighborhood quality-of-life issues. The department’s 2023 annual report credits SET and related teams with taking firearms off the streets and making hundreds of arrests since the unit was launched. Targeted warrants like Friday’s and follow-up investigations are standard tools as the unit works to disrupt local distribution networks rather than just individual users.
Legal Consequences for the Suspect
Under North Carolina law, knowingly keeping or maintaining a place for controlled-substance activity is illegal and can be charged as a misdemeanor or, if done intentionally, a Class I felony, according to the N.C. General Assembly. Possession with intent to sell and trafficking counts carry felony penalties that vary based on the type and quantity of the substance, per the N.C. General Assembly. Prosecutors often look to the amount seized, how it was packaged, the presence of cash and whether weapons were nearby when deciding whether to pursue basic possession, sale or trafficking charges.
How This Fits Statewide
Raleigh’s latest SET raid lands in the middle of a broader statewide push against illicit THC and psilocybin products. WRAL reported that more than 1,150 pounds of illegally labeled THC products were seized in Apex last November, and WECT covered a multi-agency sweep in Brunswick County that pulled in hundreds of pounds of marijuana and psilocybin along with cash and firearms. At the same time, questions about the legal line between hemp and marijuana have complicated odor-based probable cause and lab testing in North Carolina criminal cases, as The Assembly NC has reported…