Authorities on Tuesday arrested three and confiscated approximately $100,000 in narcotics following a Tuesday afternoon raid on a Newark apartment, officials say.
NEWARK -- Authorities on Tuesday arrested three and confiscated multiple quantities of narcotics following a Tuesday afternoon raid on a North Ward apartment, Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura announced.
Acting on a search warrant, investigators from the sheriff's office and Irvington Police Department raided the Clifton Avenue basement apartment and found two laundry bags containing medicine bottles and plastic envelopes filled with various quantities of illegal and prescription drugs, Fontoura said.
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In all, authorities found 523 grams of cocaine, 1,561 grams of marijuana, 165 grams of ecstacy and other narcotics, Fontoura said. The drugs have an estimated street value of $100,000, he added.
The raid came on the heels of a plainclothes surveillance operation near the apartment, where officers observed a group of four men participate in what investigators later said was a drug transaction, Fontoura said.
Believing they had just witnessed a drug buy, investigators moved in and detained all four men in order to execute the search warrant, Fontoura said.
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As the officers entered the apartment, one of two off-the-leash pit bulls found inside the apartment charged an officer, Fontoura said. The dog was shot by an officers at the scene and later died, Fontoura said.
Following the raid, Aldaberto 'Pepsi' Garcia, 35, Ramon Vega, 56, and Sonia Diaz, 49, were arrested and arraigned on multiple counts of drug possession and distribution, Fontoura said. Diaz, who was discovered inside the apartment during the raid, was also charged with conspiracy and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The three suspects were each ordered held at the Essex County Correctional Facility on a cash bonds of $650,000.
Andy Ravert, 26, of North Arlington, and Dennis Nunez, 24, of Newark, were both issued court summonses after investigators found each in possession of a small bag of marijuana following the alleged drug transaction that kicked off the raid, Fontoura said.
Both will be arraigned at a later date, authorities said.
Vernal Coleman can be reached at vcoleman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @vernalcoleman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.