Following simultaneous pre-dawn raids today on two Newark apartments, police seized a shotgun, more than $30,000 in illegal narcotics, $10,000 in cash and recovered a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
According to authorities, Bureau of Narcotics detectives and Tactical Response Team along with officers from Newark and Bloomfield executed search on two warrants apartments at 305 Roseville Avenue this morning.
Police arrested 35-year-old Omar Rivera, after officers located and confiscated a Romar AK-47 (Kalashnikov) military assault rifle with a high capacity magazine, a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun, 262 grams of marijuana, an accu-digital rosin press with a smasher plate, other drug processing items and $8,052 in cash in his bedroom.
“The potential deadliness of the Kalashnikov weapon speaks for itself since it was designed for warfare,” Sheriff Armando Fontoura noted. “The Mossberg shotgun is also capable of being equipped semi-automatic feature allowing the weapon to fire 23 rounds in 3.7 seconds. Lastly, the rosin press and smasher plate can be utilized to extract the oil from plants, such as marijuana, and converted into edible ‘gummy-bear’-type items.”
Officers also arrested 32-year-old Jamie Altreche, after detectives seized 1,500 heroin-filled envelopes, stamped ‘BLOCK STOPPER’ and ‘MERCY’ in black ink, 238 vials of ‘crack’ cocaine, 32 grams of marijuana, 27 Xanax tablets, an assortment of drug processing materials and $2055 in cash also in his bedroom.
Authorities charged Rivera with two counts each of the unlawful possession of a weapon, the unlawful possession of a weapon while committing a narcotics crime and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. In addition, police charged Rivera with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute, possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of William H. Horton School, possession of CDS paraphernalia and possession of a high capacity gun magazine.
Police charged Altreche with four counts each of possession of CDS, possession of CDS with intent to distribute, possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of William H. Horton School. He was further charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and he was found to be the subject of two open warrants issued by the Clifton municipal court.
Officials say Rivera and Altreche were lodged at the county jail where they await bail hearings.