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Victor M. Miranda, 48, ran a drug mill from his Newark Pompton Turnpike apartment while running coke with his car, Passaic County Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said.
Working with Little Falls police, the sheriff’s Bureau of Narcotics detectives followed Miranda from his home to Paterson, where he sold cocaine to a local resident on Thursday, May 25, the sheriff said.
That man, Ramon Rivera, 53, was arrested moments later, he said.
Warranted searches of Miranda’s apartment and vehicle followed, Berdnik said.
Along with the cocaine, detectives found a hydraulic press machine, various other preparation and packaging materials and the ghost gun, he said.
Do-it-yourself ghost guns -- made from kits of parts and tools -- aren't stamped with serial numbers registered to a federally licensed manufacturer. This allows criminals to bypass background checks while making it all but impossible to trace the weapons to any individual.
Miranda remained held in the Bergen County Jail this weekend on drug- and weapons-related charges, records show.
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