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Acting on a reliable tip, investigators led by Detective Jeffrey Welsh obtained a search warrant and -- assisted by their department's Special Services Bureau -- hit the clandestine Haledon Avenue lab on Saturday, Feb. 10, Deputy Police Chief George Guzman said.
They seized Santiago Zapata Palomeque after finding two five-gallon buckets of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine in his bedroom, the deputy chief said.
They also found cocaine, equipment used to manufacture drugs and some bogus government IDs, he said.
Chemical reactions and exposure to toxic chemicals used to produce the hallucinogenic synthetic stimulant commonly called Ecstasy or MDMA can cause serious harm or even death, scientists say.
Given the potential danger, police had borough firefighters, their local Board of Health and a Passaic County Hazmat Team at the ready, Guzman said.
Palomeque was charged with first-degree maintenance of a drug-production facility, as well as various drug possession charges, and sent to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson.
Jail records list Palomeque as a Colombian national. Information about the arrest was shared with federal authorities, who could issue a detainer that would keep him jail until a federal judge in Newark rules on his residency status.
A "strong relationship" based on "mutual trust and respect" between Haledon police and concerned citizens "played a pivotal role" in the drug-busting operation, Guzman said.
Police Chief Angelo J. Daniele, meanwhile, thanked Mayor Michael Johson and the Haledon Borough Council for their "steadfast support" of a "strategic vision outlined by our police administration."
Both have approved funding used to boost investigative resources and deepen community outreach, making the borough safer, the chief said.
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