SEPTEMBER 8, 2015, 2:11 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015, 10:24 AM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO, MARY DIDUCH AND JIM NORMAN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
TEANECK — Authorities seized 22 kilograms of heroin — said to have a street value of between $3.5 million and $5 million — and arrested a 25-year-old California man in what the state police described Tuesday as one of the most significant drug busts of the year.
Miguel Armenta-Villa of Bakersfield was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree possession of heroin and possession with the intent to distribute, the state police said in a statement.
Sgt. Jeff Flynn of the state police said the arrest and seizure prevented a massive amount of drugs from making it to the streets.
“This is certainly one of the largest seizures of the year,” Flynn said.
The state police said in a release that detectives, along with agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, the New York City Police Department, the New York State Police and the Bergen County Sheriff’s K-9 Unit, made the arrest at 620 Bryant Ave. after a three-week investigation.
The address was not Armenta-Villa’s residence, authorities said.
The state police said detectives “subsequently searched the residence and seized 22 kilograms of heroin, which equates to 1.1 million decks with a street value of $3.5 to $5 million.”
Heroin is always “cut” or diluted at least once — often two or three times — with ingredients such as baby laxatives or aspirin to decrease the potency and stretch the drug to make more doses, Flynn said.
