Police: Extra-Deadly Kind Of Heroin Being Sold In Camden
CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) - Camden's police chief is issuing a warning to that there's some potentially deadly heroin being sold by street drug dealers and buyers could put their lives in jeopardy if they use it.
Chief Scott Thomson says the police department got word from Cooper University Hospital that it treated 11 overdose patients over the weekend who ingested heroin apparently laced with fentanyl, which he described as a powerful narcotic given to cancer patients to treat pain.
No one died, but Thomson says he wants to avoid a repeat of a period in 2006 when 60 people in South Jersey died over a five-month period as a result of taking heroin mixed with fentanyl.
As a result, he's taking steps to get it off the streets, "We are stepping up our investigative and operational deployments into these areas, targeting both dealers and buyers. And we're trying to nip this in the bud so we don't have a repeat of 2006."
Thomson says investigators have learned the heroin is branded with a specific name, "We are distributing the names that we know that heroin has been branded with such as 'Hellfire,' 'Hellraiser' and 'Pure hell.' The common denominator is the 'hell' stamp that is on this bag of heroin."
Thomson won't identify where the drug is being sold, but says police are stepping up patrols in those neighborhoods looking for dealers and buyers and working to get both off the streets.
Police are turning to the public for help and urging calls to a police department narcotics tip line: 856-757-7222. You can also submit tips to CamdendCCB.org.
Reported by Mark Abrams, KYW Newsradio 1060
