41°
The big haul was Tuesday’s heroin seizure.
“Clearly, this was a major operation put out of business," city Police Director Jerry Speziale said.
It was run from a fortified, first-floor apartment on East 18th Street, where detectives seized 10,150 heroin folds after watching residents Jeramy Lozano, 27, and Deserie Silva, 25, sell 6,000 more to James Saunders, 51, of Saylorsburg PA, Speziale said.
Narcotics detectives arrested all three while raiding the apartment, where the director said they also found two dozen bags of crack and seized $10,060 in drug proceeds.
They charged Lozano and Silva with operating a fortified drug facility, among various other drug-related charges, and sent them to the Passaic County Jail to await first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson.
Saunders was charged with four drug counts and released pending further court action.
The very next night, detectives saw a drug deal go down on Rosa Parks Boulevard and spotted a man with a handgun sticking out of his pants pocket.
They seized what turned out to be a .380-caliber Ruger semi-automatic handgun and arrested ex-con Fernando Irby, 47, following a brief struggle, Speziale said.
The detectives also seized:
- 10 bags of cocaine;
- 42 bags of crack;
- 61 Ectasy tablets;
- 133 Xanax tablets;
- 90 Oxycodone tablets;
- 22 suboxone strips.
Irby was sent to the Passaic County Jail to await a first court appearance on various drug and weapons charges, including being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
The gun was sent to the New Jersey State Police ballistics laboratory to determine whether it may have been used in other crimes, Speziale said.
The arrest string extended to a third straight night after Detectives Mohommad Bashir, John Traynor, Mustafa Dombayci and Yamil Pimienta saw another street deal, this time on Summer Street near Broadway, on Thursday.
The two men making the exchange ran when they saw the officers coming, Speziale said.
The detectives chased down Zimere Jones, 18, who they said tossed a .22-caliber Colt revolver, 51 bags of crack and 13 heroin folds as he ran.
Jones also got sent to the county lockup on drug and weapons charges pending a first appearance. The gun was sent to the State Police lab.
Thursday’s arrest came a week after the same detectives arrested 21-year-old Marc Champion, 21, when Speziale said they found him carrying a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and a high-capacity magazine for it at the corner of 17th Avenue and East 28th Street.
Champion went to the county lockup and the gun went to the State Police lab, the director said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
