The Essex County Sheriff's Bureau of Narcotics today announced that four additional weapons have been taken off the streets of the city.
According to authorities, detectives seized two handguns off suspected drug dealers, a "community gun", and a weapon following a search warrant at the home of a convicted drug dealer who remains at large.
"Nearly all these investigations come as a result of community complaints," said Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura.
"We want the law-abiding citizens of these areas to know we are listening to them, working with them, and are dedicated to making their streets safe and free of the drug trade and violence.”
Officials say narcotic detectives executed a warrant to search the apartment of Ahmed Reed, 44. After gaining entry into the apartment, detectives recovered a loaded Hi-Point .40 caliber handgun and other ammunition, 102 glassine bags of heroin stamped as "Bentley" and Baseball," distributable amounts cocaine and marijuana, and equipment to weight and package the drugs. Reed was not home at the time of the search and a warrant is out for his arrest.
Officials say in the early morning of Jan. 18th, police executed a search warrant at a Schley Street first-floor apartment near Chancellor Avenue. In a car parked in the driveway of the home, detectives found 221 glassine bags of heroin, stamped with the names "Blacklist," "Owl" and "Exit," and a Smith & Wesson 910 semi-automatic handgun.
Police subsequently arrested Vanessa Spivey, 53, and charged her with unlawful possession of a handgun and hollow point bullets, as well as several counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute.
In the bedroom of Spivey's 16-year-old son, detectives found several packages of marijuana and a digital scale. The boy was also arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute.
Later in the afternoon, a weapons investigation led detectives to the porch of a house on Clark Street near Mount Pleasant Avenue, where they recovered an unloaded 9mm Taurus stashed between two tires.
Officials say the gun is being tested by the sheriff's ballistics lab to see if it has been used in past homicides or shootings.
These incidents followed the arrest of Nafis Kedar, 26, who was seen exiting a building on South 6th Street with a semi-automatic weapon in his hand last week.
Kedar attempted to conceal the gun and retreat into the house when he spotted the detectives but was quickly apprehended according to officials.
According to authorities, Kedar was charged with unlawful possession of a stolen handgun and possession of the drug Ecstasy.
The Essex County Sheriff's Bureau of Narcotic is made up of detectives from the Newark and Bloomfield police departments.