NORRISTOWN, PA — A massive $3.6 million drug bust of fentanyl and Xylazine in Montgomery County also turned up a significant amount of an unknown substance that officials are labeling “red heroin.”
Authorities believe the drug, discovered already packaged in baggies, was tainted with food dye. They’re running further laboratory tests to determine its exact nature.
Officials warned that drug operations are becoming more and more complex.
Find out what's happening in Norristownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“There are always new twists with how these street drugs are marketed,” Jeremiah Daley, executive director of the Liberty Mid-Atlantic High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), said in a statement. “Unusual coloring—from adulteration, contamination or the intentional addition of a dye like food coloring—is common among illicit street drug suppliers seeking to differentiate their product from another source’s drugs.”
The drugs were found after the arrests of two Philadelphia men, Richard Nunez, 45, and Javier Cornelio Fabian, 43, who were charged with running the operation.
Find out what's happening in Norristownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The sting brought in 366,000 doses of heroin, fentanyl, and Xylazine, which goes by the street name of tranq. The drugs, which were being packaged for retail on the street, were taken by search warrants executed at several residences in Montgomery County and Philadelphia, including a large stash house on the 2700 block of Eldridge Street in Philly.
Nunez was denied bail due to a flight risk, while Fabian’s bail was set at $2 million. Both were booked at Montgomery County Correctional Facility and preliminary hearings will be held on March 11.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
Click Here: Pumas UNAM soccer tracksuit