Cops announce bust, $13M drug seizure

A joint Massachusetts-New York law enforcement operation busted up a national heroin smuggling ring, netted a record $13 million drug seizure and revealed plots by dealers to cut heroin with deadly chemicals and test it out on addicts, authorities said.

Twenty-five suspects have been indicted in connection with “Operation Dirty Dope,” which netted more than 33 kilos of heroin and 2 kilos of Fentanyl.

“Opioid abuse is at epidemic levels in Massachusetts and across the northeast,” said Massachusetts DEA Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Ferguson. “Heroin is causing deaths across the commonwealth in record numbers and DEA is committed to aggressively pursuing drug trafficking organizations who are coming from out of state to distribute this poison across Massachusetts in order to profit and destroy people’s lives and wreak havoc in our communities. ”

In wiretaps, the suspects can be heard discussing plans to mix other chemicals — including chicken anesthetic, Novocain, acetone (nail polish remover), roach killer (boric acid), fentanyl and more — in with the heroin to add to the bulk and value, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s Office.

During bail arguments, prosecutors also alleged that traffickers used heroin addicts as human guinea pigs to test the quality of the cut heroin, disregarding whether it would kill them or not.

The indictment detailed a sophisticated distribution ring that moved most of the drugs from Mexico to Arizona, and eventually to dealers in Suffolk County, N.Y., and Leominster.