Two men arrested in alleged multi-million dollar drug operation: Montgomery County DA
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) -- Four-hundred-thousand doses of fentanyl, heroine and xylazine, otherwise known as tranq, have been taken off the streets.
Now officials said two men have been arrested for allegedly being the organizers behind the drug operation, that was supposedly ran out of a home in Mayfair.
The 2700 block of Elbridge Street in Philadelphia's Mayfair neighborhood is where you used to find children playing.
But Shannon Mulhern said that's all changed with crime and drugs ravaging the area.
"This is why I don't live here and am moving to Jersey," Mulhern said.
But she said she never knew the people who are allegedly helping fuel, what she believes, is a growing problem were nearly right at the doorstep of where she used to live.
A police investigation revealed a drug house was just steps away.
"I never knew that there was a drug house. They had to be new people," Mulhern said.
The drugs crossed county lines into Montgomery County.
Steele announced the arrest of the men allegedly behind a million-dollar operation, Richard Nunez, 45, and Javier Fabian, 43, from Philadelphia.
The two, who were both once deported, are accused of producing heroin, fentanyl and tranq in the Elbridge Street house.
Steele said in total, the two were allegedly in possession of nearly 400,000 doses of the drugs -- a street value of $3.6 million.
"These are the high-end folks. These are people with international connections," Steele said in a press conference.
Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies helped bring the two down -- an investigation that alleges Fabian sold a kilo of tranq to an undercover agent, as well as his attempt to sell four kilos of uncut heroin to someone at the King of Prussia Mall.
Luckily police got to them first.
Steele has a message for anyone else possibly involved in the drug operation.
"If you're involved with these people, run," he said,
Nunez and Fabian are facing multiple felony charges related to the criminal enterprise. Nunez was denied bail and Fabian's bail was increased to $2 million cash.
Their next court date is set for Monday, March 11.
