Heroin seizure is Phila. police record
A savvy Northeast drug ring had 8.4 pounds worth $1.4 million, police said. Four raids led to two arrests.
Philadelphia police said yesterday that they had seized a record amount of heroin, some brought to the city in the soles of shoes, and shut down a sophisticated drug ring in the Northeast.
Officers confiscated 8.4 pounds of heroin, with a street value of $1.4 million, in raids on four homes Wednesday, Capt. Chris Werner said at the police narcotics division in Hunting Park.
"This is the largest seizure of heroin in the city," he said. It was a record seizure for the Philadelphia Police Department, although in 1991, Amtrak police seized a larger amount.
On a table in front of Werner were a plastic food-storage bag filled with brown powered heroin and two bags with about 11/2 inches of compressed heroin in the shape of a shoe. It and similar parcels likely were transported in someone's shoes, Werner said.
Two other bags contained hundreds of glassine packets stamped with "The Wire" and "Push." A .40-caliber handgun was also confiscated, Warner said.
Search warrants were served at 7158 Bustleton Ave., 230 W. Sheldon St., 5263 Montour St., 3836 J St., and two vehicles, Werner said.
In 2003, police confiscated 7.7 pounds of heroin during an investigation in the Northeast. And in 1991, Amtrak police seized 17 pounds of heroin aboard a New York-bound train while it was stopped at 30th Street Station.
Arrested Wednesday were Juan Severino, 29, a Dominican national who lives in the 5200 block of Montour Street, and Robert Rosario, 35, of the 600 block of Brill Street.
Other arrests are likely in the continuing investigation, Werner said.
He said police thought the drugs had come from Puerto Rico.
"It was a rather sophisticated operation where the heroin was stored in different locations around the city," Werner said.
Werner then displayed a mechanical device - a black metal unit the size of a shoe box - that he said had been used to operate secret compartments inside the homes. He said the device could be triggered by a remote control or another type of switch.
Werner said the work of narcotics investigators Richard Wertz and Brian Myers had been crucial to the case.
Narcotics field-unit officers identified a heroin distribution network that supplied the Kensington and Lower Northeast sections of the city, and undercover officers made four buys of heroin before the raids, Werner said.
The information in the case will be presented to the U.S. Attorney's Office, he said.
Asked how long the ring had operated, Werner said he was not sure.
"That's a significant amount of heroin to bring into any city," he said. "They didn't do that overnight."
