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Passaic County Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said Officer Eric Blesing stopped John Maksuta, 35, for blowing a stop sign while turning without signaling Saturday night at E. 18th Street and 5th Avenue.
Maksuta was “profusely sweating and fidgeting,” Berdnik said.
The officer noticed a bulge in Maksuta’s pants that turned out to be the bags of heroin, worth an estimated $1,600 on the street, the sheriff said.
Maksuta was ordered held in the Passaic County Jail pending a detention hearing on charges of possessing heroin with the intent to distribute it, he said.
Paterson has become a hub for buyers from New York State and Pennsylvania -- some users and others dealers -- who travel upwards of an hour to an hour and a half to Paterson, authorities say.
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SEE: A Montgomery driver was caught carrying heroin and a hypodermic syringe by police who stopped him for drifting across a New Jersey highway in the middle of the afternoon, authorities there said.
ALSO SEE: An out-of-state heroin user was arrested after his car drifted across lanes on northbound Route 208 in the middle of the afternoon, Wyckoff police said.
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“This should be a valuable lesson to [anyone] coming into Passaic County to engage in narcotics trafficking,” Berdnik said. “Law enforcement is waiting for you -- and if you have drugs in your possession, you will be arrested.”
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