Ten Arrested, More Than $1.5M Worth of Heroin Seized in Fort Lee Raid

Law enforcement officials arrested 10 members of an alleged narcotics trafficking ring Thursday at a heroin-packaging mill in Fort Lee, according to the New York Field Division of the DEA and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.

The 10 face multiple drug charges and are suspected of being part of an organization that distributes large quantities of heroin in the New York metropolitan area and New Jersey, authorities say.

The arrests took place during a court-authorized search at 461 Grandview Place in Fort Lee—the alleged location of the heroin mill—following a two-month investigation by the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Investigators Unit and the DEA's New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, according to authorities.

Authorities say agents seized about five-and-a-half pounds of unprocessed heroin from the two-family home Thursday, more than 100,000 user-ready glassine envelopes and about $50,000 in cash during the search.

Eight of the 10 people arrested in Fort Lee Thursday live in New York City, according to the authorities, who said the investigation revealed that a van would pick up several of the defendants near their homes in Washington Heights and transport them across the George Washington Bridge to the mill on Grandview Place.

Among those arrested were Luis Cabrera and Cecelia Genao of Fort Lee, both of whom live at the house where the mill was allegedly located. Genao was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and maintaining a heroin production facility, in addition to other drug charges, according to Laura Tencza of the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.

The Fort Lee Police Department assisted in the search and arrest along with multiple other agencies, including the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Gangs and Violent Crimes Task Force, the Cliffside Park Police Department and the Passaic County Sheriffs Department, according to authorities.

A New Jersey Superior Court judge Thursday set bail for Genao and Cabrera at $250,000 each. Bail for the other eight defendants was set at $150,000. Their next court appearance is May 3 in Fort Lee Municipal Court, authorities said.