10,000 Doses Of Meth Seized In Bensalem Drug Bust: DA

BENSALEM, PA -- A major drug bust was carried out Tuesday in Bensalem, where federal, county and municipal law enforcement worked together to seize five pounds of suspected methamphetamine. Three arrests were made.

The street value of the drugs is more than $225,000, and represents 10,000 individual doses, according to information from the Bucks County District Attorney's office.

Andres Ramirez Orozco, 30, of San Leandro, CA; Joel Javier, 26, of Philadelphia; and Travis Smith, 30, of Willingboro, NJ; have been arrested on felony drug charges. They are being held in the Bucks County Correctional Facility after failing to post bail, which was set at 10 percent of $950,000 for each defendant.

Police allege that Javier brokered the methamphetamine delivery for Orozco, who told police he works as a concrete contractor in California.

According to information from the affidavit shared by the Bucks County District Attorney's office:

Smith told police that he was a heroin user who had agreed to drive Javier, whom he identified as his dealer, to Bensalem in return for $500.

On Monday afternoon, a DEA agent saw Javier pull up to a house in the 6000 block of Tulip Street in Philadelphia. After briefly going inside the home, Javier sat for 15 to 20 minutes in a late-model Mercedes with an unidentified man before speaking with Orozco, who had pulled up in a third vehicle.

The agent watched Javier packing a soft designer bag with unknown items and placing it in Orozco’s vehicle before both men drove off. That bag later was found in a hotel room that Orozco had rented in Bensalem.

On Tuesday, police saw Javier’s car, Orozco’s car and a Toyota with New Jersey plates arrive together at the Holiday Inn Express on Street Road in Bensalem.

Police then saw Javier and an unidentified man sit together briefly in a fourth vehicle before Javier removed a white shopping bag from the Toyota’s trunk and placed it inside the Toyota. Investigators then moved in, finding Smith and a woman in the Toyota with the shopping bag containing the methamphetamine.

A Dec. 27 preliminary hearing is scheduled.

The following agencies assisted with the investigation: District Attorney’s Drug Strike Force; the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Philadelphia Field Division; and the Bensalem Township, Falls Township, Middletown Township and Philadelphia Police Departments.

“This seizure represents a significant amount of methamphetamine that will not end up being distributed on our streets and in our communities,” said Gary Tuggle, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Philadelphia Field Division. “The DEA, working with our law enforcement partners here, will continue to aggressively target the drug traffickers that seek to damage our neighborhoods.”

PHOTOS: Bucks County District Attorney