$7.5M Of Heroin, Fentanyl Seized In Massive Bronx Raid: Officials

THE BRONX, NY — Authorities seized an estimated $7.5 million worth of potentially deadly opioids Wednesday night from a Bronx apartment that allegedly served as a drug packaging mill, law enforcement officials said. More than 55 pounds of suspected heroin and fentanyl were taken from the Soundview apartment, along with stamps for branding doses of drugs with names such as "Death," "Kill" and "Heartless," according to the city's Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office.

Drug agents also found scales, strainers and other materials used to process the drugs for distribution on the street, officials said. Five Bronx men were arrested on drug charges in the raid, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators saw one man, Luis Guzman-Rojas, enter the Morrison Avenue apartment building around 8:20 p.m. Wednesday and leave shortly after with a black plastic bag, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators followed the car that drove him away and stopped it at the corner of Bruckner Boulevard and Hunts Point Avenue, officials said. They arrested Guzman-Rojas after finding him in the back seat with the black bag and a kilogram of suspected heroin, the prosecutor's office said.

The Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office got a search warrant for the two-bedroom apartment and went in shortly after 11 p.m., officials said. There they found about 11 kilograms of suspected heroin in one bedroom closet, 10 kilograms hidden in a wall and about 230 grams of heroin in a dresser, the prosecutor's office said.

In the other bedroom, agents found more than 100 ink stamps with names including "Dexter," "Super High" and "100%," along with inkpads, three digital scales, four strainers, 12 electric coffee grinders, nearly 300 rolls of tape and 16 tape dispensers, the prosecutor's office said.

The four men found in the apartment's living room area — Matias Rosario-Ramon, Anthony Polanco, Willy De La Cruz and Pedro Sandoval — face charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally using drug paraphernalia, officials said. Guzman-Rojas is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, officials said.

The Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office worked on the raid with thex New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, which includes members of the NYPD, New York State Police and federal Drug Enforcement Administration, officials said.

(Lead image: Authorities found about $7.5 million worth of heroin Wednesday from a Bronx apartment that allegedly served as a drug mill. Photo courtesy of the Drug Enforcement Administration)