Ten Arrested, More Than $1.5M Worth of Heroin Seized in Bergen County Raid

FORT LEE -- Federal and county authorities announced Friday the arrests of 10 members of an alleged narcotics trafficking ring at a heroin-packaging mill in Fort Lee.

The 10 face multiple drug charges and are suspected of being part of a narcotics trafficking organization that distributes large quantities of heroin in the New York metropolitan area and New Jersey, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said in a statement.

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.

Law enforcement officials also arrested Luis Cabrera and Cecelia Genao of Fort Lee, both of whom live at the house where the mill was located, prosecutors say. Genao was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and maintaining a heroin production facility, in addition to other drug charges, according to Senior Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Laura Tencza. 

"Upon entering the residence, law enforcement officers found one defendant, Cecelia Genao, had been stamping brand names on glassine bags at the kitchen table, while her preschool-aged daughter sat nearby eating breakfast and watching cartoons on television," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. 

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

A New Jersey Superior Court judge Thursday set bail for Genao and Luis 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.