$3.3M Worth Of Herion Seized In Philadelphia Drug Bust

Philadelphia authorities seized $3.3 million worth of heroin and now have three suspected drug dealers behind bars as a result of a joint investigation between Philadelphia District Attorney's Office and the DEA, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announces Thursday.

Gheral Alavarez-Mercedes, 30; Zamary L. Roldan, 26; and Johel Pascal-Mateo, 23, have all been arrested and charged with felony possession with the intent to deliver and felony conspiracy, the DA's office said.

All three face roughly 60 years in prison if they are found guilty.

Authorities took 13 kilograms of heroin – which Williams said has a street value of about $3.3 million – off the streets after police saw Alavarez-Mercedes on Jan. 24 go in and out of a property on Bingham Street, meet a someone near Algon Avenue and Magee Street, then saw Alavarez-Mercedes put a small white box in his car.

Police stopped Alavarez-Mercedes and found about three kilograms of heroin in the white box in his car before taking him into custody, the DA's office said.

While Alavarez-Mercedes was taken into custody, officers saw Roldan leave the same property then stopped her. She voluntarily let officers search her car which led them to find four racks of glassine packets containing heroin, $5,000, and a container with 18.4 pounds of heroin inside it, according to the DA's office. Roldan was taken into custody and an infant she had with her was given to family members, the DA's office said.

Officers were given consent from Alavarez-Mercedes to search his Bingham Street home where they found .5 kilograms of heroin, packaging materials, scales, ledger books, passports for Alavarez-Mercedes and Roldan, and 13 counterfeit $100 bills, Williams office said,

Authorities learned Alavarez-Mercedes planned to meet Pascal-Mateo so Pascal-Mateo could take three kilograms to New York City through the Geraldo Transport Service, the DA's office said.

Pascal-Mateo was stopped by officers near the Geraldo Transport Service where they arrested him and confiscated $485, the DA's office said.

“The more than 13 kilograms of heroin, which has a street value of $3.3 million dollars, that you see before you is thankfully no longer on the streets of Philadelphia,” Williams said. “I would like to thank the men and women of the Philadelphia Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration for their partnership and the hard work of my office’s Dangerous Drug Offender Unit. Recently our city learned about the deaths of several individuals from ‘bad’ heroin, and even though we don’t yet know if the heroin that came from this bust was or was not laced with deadly chemicals, it still sends a clear message that Philadelphia’s law enforcement community is going to keep doing all it can to make our streets as safe as they can be.”

A special agent with the DEA's Philadelphia Division said the bust will "undoubtedly save lives" in the area.

“Philadelphia County, as well as the Commonwealth at large, has experienced the loss of thousands of lives over the past few years due to fatal drug overdoses – the majority of which are the result of heroin," said Gary Tuggle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Philadelphia Division. "The seizure of this heroin, which was the result of the DEA’s partnership with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, will undoubtedly save lives across our region.”

Images via Philadelphia District Attorney's Office