Philadelphia police and FBI agents arrested four men during the raid of an alleged heroin packaging operation inside a Bell’s Corner apartment on Sept. 12.
The raid occurred inside an apartment building at 1822 Benton St. and resulted in the confiscation of 360 grams of heroin with a “street value” of almost $119,000, police said. The stash included about 132 grams in bulk heroin and about 7,600 small packets of the drug. Authorities also searched a 2006 Cadillac and seized $3,729 in suspected drug proceeds.
The investigators, led by Officer Charles Myers of the Narcotics Field Unit, allegedly caught the four defendants as they were in the process of packaging the bulk heroin into small packets for street-level sale. Police said that the traffickers supplied large amounts of heroin to Wilmington, Del., as well as Philadelphia’s East Police Division.
The investigators arrested Jose Lopez Rodriguez, 23, of the 4800 block of N. Fifth St., along with Jose Esquiel Almanzar Morales, 22; Alfer Martinez, 36; and Broneldo Jose Gomez-Lopez, 32, all of the 1800 block of Benton St.
Court records list Gomez-Lopez as 28. They also show all four defendants as residents of the 19124 ZIP Code, which covers Juniata, Frankford and parts of Feltonville and Oxford Circle.
All defendants were charged with drug distribution, drug possession and conspiracy. They remain in jail, each in lieu of $500,000 bail, and are scheduled for an Oct. 1 preliminary hearing. ••
