Wedding & Event Venue near Sumter, SC

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Three suspects in Sumter County and one in Richland County are charged with money laundering for cartels after a years-long investigation by multiple agencies.

In Sumter County, Caspin Powers Adachi, 23, Fnu Naimullah, 32, and Nasir Ullah, 27, were arrested on Jan. 23, following arrest warrants issued on January 14.

Law enforcement did not name the person in Richland County.

On Jan. 23, authorities from multiple agencies served search warrants for money laundering at two businesses on Broad Street and houses on Rhododendron Street and Currituck Drive. These buildings were said to have been used by Powers Adachi, Naimullah, and Ullah.

According to authorities, another suspect was arrested at the same time in Richland County for money laundering charges with assistance from the DEA, SLED, and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

SLED, Sumter County Sherriff’s Office (SCSO), and DEA Special Agents also charged Chinese national Puquan Huang, who was arrested in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and will be extradited to South Carolina.

The arrests come after a multi-year investigation by the DEA, with assistance from federal, state, and local authorities. Deputies say the investigation led to Sumter and concluded with the arrests of four suspects with the aid of SCSO. This investigation focused on international and domestic money laundering for Mexico’s two dominant drug cartels – the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CING) and the Sinaloa Cartel.

Investigators believe the suspects worked directly with cartel-affiliated Chinese money launderers operating in both Georgia and South Carolina and had been doing so for multiple years.

Authorities confirm Ullah will face additional charges in Richland County after being arrested in October 2024 while smuggling about $180,000. Ullah and Naimullah’s father, Mohammad Azam Khan, remains an active fugitive and is believed to be in Dubai.

Deputies transported Adachi, Naimullah, and Ullah to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center. Following bond hearings, Adachi and Ullah posted $20,000 surety bonds, and Naimullah posted a $200,000.00 bond. All three suspects were released, according to authorities.

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Highest-rated Mexican restaurants in the Sumter area by diners

Just like cuisine from any country, Mexican food is not monolithic. It isn't just combo plates and tacos. (Not that there's anything wrong with that style of food; it's delicious and is responsible for popularizing Mexican food in the United States.) But Mexican food means more than that.

It reflects Mexico's diverse population—shaped by waves of immigration—and has proliferated throughout the U.S., showcasing the cuisine in all its complexity and regionality. Mexico has 32 distinct regional styles of cooking, and thanks to immigrant chefs and the rise of promising culinarians of Mexican descent looking to share their signature dishes, Indigenous foodways, and ingredients from various regions, diners are reframing their idea of "Mexican food."

According to a 2024 Pew Research Center analysis of SafeGraph data, 1 in 10 restaurants in the U.S. serve Mexican food, and nearly 9 out of 10 U.S. counties have at least one Mexican restaurant. The analysis also reveals that California and Texas are home to a majority of the Mexican American population and together host 2 out of 5 Mexican restaurants in the country.

These findings serve as a testament to the influence Mexican cuisine has had and continues to have in America. Which begs the question: Where does one go for the best old-school Mexican restaurants, loncheras slinging tacos out of a half-window, and innovative modern Mexican food pushing culinary boundaries?

To help you out, Stacker compiled a list of the highest-rated Mexican restaurants in the Sumter area based on diners' reviews on Yelp as of February 2025. Restaurants with at least 20 reviews tagged as "Mexican" on Yelp within a 10-kilometer radius of Sumter were included. As a result, some restaurants featured may serve other food items besides Mexican food. Also, in an effort to highlight independent businesses and local chains, those with more than 50 locations nationally, based on the Yelp data, were not included.

Keep reading to see if your favorite Mexican spot made the list or to discover a new restaurant to try!

You may also like: Highest-rated barbecue restaurants in the Sumter area by diners

A South Carolina farmer struggles to keep eggs on the shelf as bird flu wipes out flocks elsewhere, stores run dry, and desperate customers flood his shop.

SUMTER, S.C. — Egg prices in 2025 have surged dramatically recently, driven by avian flu outbreaks and seasonal declines in egg-laying activity among chickens and ducks during winter.

The rising cost of eggs and people looking for alternative sources are bringing in more money, but the product is in short supply for one local farmer in Sumter.

"Anywhere you go, $7 to $8. I would have never in my lifetime, I really wouldn't have thought that we would be here, but we're here," said The Farm Store co-owner Mike Dellinger.

Dellinger said he's being hit hard by the ripple effect of the H5N1 bird flu.

Commercial poultry farms are being impacted, wiping out hundreds of chicken flocks used for production at big-box grocery stores, driving customers to Mike's local store.

"That shortens the supply chain and we've seen the grocery stores become short, and now that they've become short, we see folks coming through our doors that we've never seen come through the doors by eggs," Dellinger said.

He has to limit customers to two dozen eggs per purchase because he can't keep up with demand. He also sells duck eggs and quail eggs.

Other factors are also added challenges.

"We've seen prices of the feed go up. We've seen prices of the egg cartons go up," Dellinger said.

And Mike's still waiting on a new poultry flock.

"This time we would have switched out, about December. We're already what, two months or a month and a half delayed. Looks like it may be into the month of April before we'll have fresh hens, so not only is all this concern about eggs being short in the grocery stores, but our eggs, even on the local level, because we can't get replacement birds," Dellinger said.

According to Jennifer Tyrrell, community science and research program manager at Audubon South Carolina, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has moved from wild birds to domestic flocks.

"Avian flu is not a common occurrence, and it has not been in our area for a very, very long time until recently. This more recent outbreak, over the past few years is now just happening. It's here. It's here to stay, which is unfortunate, but it's something we're going to be dealing with for a long time because it is so prevalent and so spread out now," Tyrrell said.

Tyrrell said the avian flu virus often travels with physical contact, so it travels more easily within flocks and with more social birds like geese or gulls.

"In birds, it is usually some sort of neurological issue, they can act a little strange and they just, they usually die pretty quickly once they contract it," Tyrrell said.

Oftentimes, these birds pass the sickness quickly, Tyrrell said.

"Typically, when there's an infection in a poultry population, it's safe to assume that every bird is infected or will soon be infected. And so unfortunately, a lot of them just have to be euthanized because it's just going to continue spreading and get worse," Tyrrell said.

But locals like Mike remain hopeful.

"Better days will come," Dellinger said.

Dellinger said he hopes things change for the poultry industry by April or May.

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