N.J. Father, Son Arrested During Drug Bust At Newark Bodega: Cops

NEWARK, NJ — Essex County sheriff’s officers made a forced entry into a Newark mini-mart on Saturday, arresting a father and son and recovering $9K of narcotics, authorities say.

According to the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, as part of ongoing investigations into alleged drug trafficking in Newark’s North Ward, sheriff’s officers conducted a raid at the Mr. Mini Mart convenience store and an attached home at 534 Broadway.

During a plainclothes operation, officers from the department’s Bureau of Narcotics, equipped with a search warrant for the property and surrounded the local bodega. At that time, the officers allegedly saw the target of their investigation, Manuel Ramirez, 49, remove a black, plastic bag from a nearby parked car, police said.

Ramirez then brought the bag into the bodega and placed it behind the counter, at which point the sheriff’s detectives moved into the store, detained Ramirez and simultaneously made a forced entry into the residential part of the building, authorities stated.

In the home’s hallway, officers allegedly saw Ramirez’s 23-year-old son, Noberto, throw a plastic bag into a bedroom and attempt to flee the scene on foot, police said.

Officers immediately apprehended Noberto Ramirez, police said.

Police found 64 grams of cocaine and 21 grams of marijuana “packaged for street distribution” in the black bag that the elder Ramirez removed from the car, authorities stated.

Police found 182 grams of marijuana and 88 Tramadol tablets, an opioid pain medication, inside the bag that Noberto Ramirez allegedly threw, authorities stated.

According to the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, the estimated street value of the narcotics is $9,000.

“The entire structure was monitored by multiple surveillance cameras as well as DVD recorders and video display terminals,” police stated in a news release.

Authorities charged Manuel and Noberto Ramirez with two counts of the possession of a controlled dangerous substance and one count each of possession of CDS with intent to distribute and the unlawful maintenance of a fortified narcotics distribution facility.

The charges were approved under New Jersey’s new bail reform guidelines, and both suspects were lodged at the county jail where they await a bail hearing, police said.

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