What to Know
- Three men were arrested and charged following a drug bust at a Bensalem apartment.
- The men were allegedly caught in the act cutting and packaging the drugs when police entered.
- Police say they seized $4.5 million worth of contraband and drugs, including heroin and horse tranquilizer.
Three men were caught in the act packaging drugs "as if they were making cookies," during a heroin and horse tranquilizer bust inside a Bucks County apartment, investigators announced Tuesday.
Acting on a tip, Bensalem Police executed a search warrant Saturday at an apartment on the 1200 block of Neshaminy Valley Drive in Bensalem. As they entered the apartment, they found three men, later identified as Jose Nieves Velez, 31, Emanuel Rodrigues-Santiago, 31, and Hamlet Bentacourt Pimentel, 38, according to police.
"When Bensalem Police entered the apartment there were three males sitting in the apartment, packaging the heroin right in front, as if they were making cookies," Fred Harran, Bensalem's Director of Public Safety, said.
Police seized around three kilograms of heroin and fentanyl, hundreds of heroin baggies, numerous scales, grinders, packaging materials and about $40,000 in cash, according to investigators. Police also say they recovered 2400 ml of Xylazine, a controlled substance commonly used for horse tranquilizers as well as a cutting agent when mixed with fentanyl or heroin.
"If it's a chemical that can take down a horse, I don't think it's something I'd want to touch," Harran said.
In all, police say the drugs and contraband they seized is worth about $4.5 million.
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All three men are charged with multiple drug violations and were remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of $1 million bail.
Investigators say Nieves Velez entered the country illegally while Rodrigues-Santiago is a previously deported convicted felon. ICE placed detainers on both men.
