N.J. Authorities Bust Major Opioid Mill Linked To More Than 225 Overdoses
HARRISON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – A major opioid mill that authorities believe may be linked to more than 225 overdoses was busted Thursday in New Jersey.
State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the operation supplied 15,000 doses of heroin and fentanyl a day and was run from a luxury apartment in Harrison.
Timothy Guest, 45, of Irvington, William Woodley, 27 of Bellville, and Selionel Orama, 25 of Cedar Gove, were charged with multiple crimes, including maintaining a narcotics production facility and possession with intent to distribute.
Web Extra: N.J. AG Grewal Announces Major Opioid Mill Bust
Authorities said the New Jersey State Police opioid enforcement task force saw Guest leave the apartment with a black duffel bag last Thursday and drive off in a Cadillac XTS.
Officers attempted to stop the car, but Guest allegedly fled, striking two state police vehicles.
Authorities said they found 150 bricks of fentanyl inside the car and placed Guest under arrest.
Inside the suspected mill, they seized 32,500 individual doses and four kilograms of fentanyl and heroin. They also found drug equipment, including rubber ink stamps used to brand the packaging.
Those brands have been linked to 227 overdoses, including 84 deaths, authorities said.
"We prevented countless doses of fentanyl and heroin from reaching drug users by taking down this mill, and given that the stamps seized bear the same names as drugs linked to 84 deaths, we may have saved many lives," Grewal said Thursday. "This operation reflects a proactive and collaborative strategy in which we recently deployed a new State Police task force, supported by a $2.8 million federal COPS grant, to target drug mills and other major drug sources as choke points in the supply line of these deadly opioids. This case is an early and tremendous victory for the Opioid Enforcement Task Force and our new strategy."
