A Union County man was arrested this morning by Essex County sheriff's officers and weapons and drug charges were filed against him.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that plainclothes detectives from his department's Bureau of Narcotics conducted a surveillance operation at the intersection of Halsey and West Kinney streets in downtown Newark, a known drug trafficking location, on Sunday morning.
"At that time, our officers observed a silver 2011 Buick sedan drove through the area on multiple occasions," Sheriff Fontoura said.
"The suspect vehicle then was stopped by persons of foot who were loitering nearby."
The sheriff said that the driver of the Buick engaged in brief conversations with the loiterers, which culminated with an exchange of cash for items in the vehicle.
"When we announced our presence, the driver, Dashawn Martin, 29, of Hillside, not only refused our commands to exit his vehicle, he was seen stuffing items into a false compartment hidden behind the car's radio," Fontoura noted.
“After removing Martin from the Buick, our detectives gained access to the hidden compartment, which yielded a fully loaded, 9mm, Taurus semiautomatic handgun with a high capacity magazine, 800 heroin-filled glassine envelopes, stamped 'GORILLA' in red ink and 155 plastic jugs which contained 'crack' cocaine."
The estimated street value of the narcotics is $10,000. $302 was also seized from Martin.
Martin was charged with the unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a firearm while committing a narcotics crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine and obstruction of the administration of law.
The suspect was further charged with two counts each of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute and possession of CDS with the intention to distribute within 1000 feet of Boys Chorus Academy.
Martin was lodged at the county jail, where he awaits a bail hearing on today's charges.