Two illegal aliens were arrested last week and charged with smuggling up to $75,000 in heroin into the U.S.A., authorities in Pennsylvania report.
Pennsylvania police were tipped off to a shipment of illegal drugs that were about to enter Westmorland County over Interstate 76, and officers were on the lookout for trouble, according to WPXI TV Pittsburgh.
State Police eventually observed a car that failed to turn on its lights in a construction zone, a state law, and pulled the vehicle over. Inside officers discovered Jose Miguel Garabito Montilla and Frankely Alonzo Ramos Castano, who displayed “multiple indicators of criminal activity,” police said. A subsequent search of the car found 7,5000 stamped bags of heroin worth up to $75,000.
The suspects had addresses in Philadelphia, but officers discovered that they are Dominican Republic nationals and here in the U.S. illegally.
“We believe these two individuals have been moving heroin into southwest Pennsylvania here for a while and (they’re) starting to grow some roots,” Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steve Limani told the media.
The Department of Homeland Security has also joined the case, but there is no indication as to what other charges may be filed.
Philadelphia has been particularly hard hit by the growing opioid addiction crisis sweeping America. It has been so bad that the city is even training local library employees on how to recognize and treat heroin overdoses because libraries are public spaces where many people do drugs, CNN reported.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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