Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri announced that the Mercer County Narcotics Task Force seized two million dollars in heroin and cocaine this week hidden inside a tractor trailer at a New Jersey Turnpike service area.
According to authorities, on May 1st officers with the Mercer County Narcotics Task Force conducted an interdiction stop at the Woodrow Wilson Service Area on the New Jersey Turnpike in Hamilton Township.
Detective Sergeant Joe Angarone utilized his K-9 partner, Bela, to conduct a drug sniff of both the tractor and the trailer after detectives became suspicious of the driver’s nervous demeanor. Bela alerted to the scent of narcotics within the sleeping section of the tractor. A search of this area revealed a hidden compartment in the ceiling of the tractor where officers located 13 kilograms of cocaine and four kilograms of heroin.
Officials said the driver, Frank Rosario, 44, of Kissimmee, Florida, was arrested and charged with numerous narcotic-related offenses. The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to have him detained. The tractor trailer, bearing Florida registration, was seized by law enforcement.
The approximate street values of the seized cocaine and heroin are $1.3 million and $800,000, respectively.
Prosecutor Onofri commended all of the agencies involved in arrest, including the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Hamilton, Princeton and Trenton police departments, under the command of his Special Investigations Unit.
Despite having been charged, every defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.