Wayne Drug Investigation Leads To Massive Bust, 23 Arrested: Officials

WAYNE, NJ — Twenty-three people have been arrested in a long-term drug investigation that started last May when a resident tipped Wayne Police off about cocaine being sold in Pompton Lakes, according to officials.

Police from six Passaic County towns, the county Prosecutor's Office, and both the Department of Homeland Security and Drug Enforcement Agency participated in the expansive probe. The investigation, led by Wayne Police and the Prosecutor's Office, targeted a cocaine and narcotics distribution network that operated throughout northern New Jersey, authorities said.

"This investigation was a combination of good old-fashioned police work and 21st century high-tech methods which started with a tip from a concerned resident," said Wayne Police Chief Joseph Rooney. "The Wayne Police Narcotics/Special Operations Bureau cultivated this information and developed leads and evidence which identified individuals at every level of the drug distribution chain."

Law enforcement officers executed seven search warrants back in September in Passaic and Bergen counties, and made 10 arrests. On Feb. 26, officials executed another 18 search warrants across those two counties and in Hudson County, arresting another 13 people on drug and weapons offenses.

Authorities say they seized more than 4 kilos of cocaine, 1.7 pounds of heroin, 1.2 pounds of Fentanyl, more than 2 pounds of marijuana, and numerous prescription pills along with eight firearms and about $310,000 in cash over the course of those searches.

The investigation is active and ongoing, officials said on Thursday.