STATEWIDE DRUG RAIDS NET 349 SUSPECTS

In an attempt to rid the streets of flourishing drug markets, law
enforcement agents fanned out across the state and arrested 349 people in
all 21 counties, officials said yesterday.

The crackdown also netted 30 guns, 300 pounds of marijuana and more than
$80,000 in cash.

"Open and notorious drug markets present a twin evil to this state,"
Attorney General Peter Verniero said at a press conference in Trenton.
"First, they are obviously a site for illegal activity, but secondly,
because they occur in the open, they erode the quality of life in our
neighborhoods, and that's simply intolerable."

He said 101 of the arrests were made within drug-free school zones,
potentially subjecting suspects to enhanced penalties.

"This is something you are going to see more of in this state," Verniero
said. "This is part of the administration's overall quality-of-life program."

Verniero said arrests were made on charges of dealing drugs including
cocaine, heroin, marijuana and designer drugs such as LSD, Ketamine and
Ecstasy.

The arrests came after months of undercover work to arrange buys from
dealers who frequented street corner drug markets, prosecutors said.

Somerset County had the largest number of arrests with 76, followed by
Atlantic County with 30, Burlington with 25 and Morris with 23. Verniero
stressed that the arrest numbers were preliminary and authorities would
continue to pick up suspects.

Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said the arrests were part of the
largest-ever drug-dealing investigation in his county and reflect the
ongoing migration of open-air drug markets from urban centers into the
suburbs. He said open-air markets where cocaine, marijuana and heroin could
be bought were flourishing in sections of Somerville, Bound Brook, Franklin
Township and North Plainfield.

Forrest said the investigation in his county involved more than 100 drug
buys by agents over the last three months and led to the seizure of 63
grams of cocaine.

In the course of investigating the open-air markets. Forrest said
authorities had also uncovered an organized drug ring operating in Bound
Brook and were able to infiltrate it using undercover officers.

Two men were identified as principals of the ring: Rafael Rosado Jr., 23.
of Franklin Township, and Angel Torado, 35. of Bound Brook. They were
charged yesterday in Superior Court in Somerville with multiple counts of
dealing cocaine.

Bound Brook Police Chief Kenneth Henderson said two houses on Talmage
Avenue where drug dealing was believed to be taking place were raided and
shut down for housing code violations. Forrest said arrest warrants had
been issued for more than 100 people, including 18 juveniles.

Arrests in the sweep began in predawn raids throughout the state, as teams
of detectives and local police officers armed with search warrants and
arrest warrants fanned out in each county.

Lt. Norman Cullen of the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office said most of
the buys made in his county by undercover agents were of quarter-gram
packets of cocaine selling for between $20 and $25.

Verniero said 30 handguns, 16 vehicles and $31,405 in cash were seized
statewide by officers in the course of making the arrests.

Forrest said most of the drug sales at the open-air markets involved
stranger-to-stranger sales, rather than organized drug rings. But, he said,
typically buyers could drive up in cars or approach on foot or on bicycles
and leave with the drugs they wanted.

The "mission was to shut down this type of drug activity." he said.

"We want a message sent out that this is not something that's going to stop
after tomorrow," Morris County Prosecutor John Dangler said of the sweeps.
"But there's an ongoing effort being made by each county prosecutor to see
that we do the best job that we can to eliminate drugs from our towns."

Middlesex County Prosecutor's Capt. Jeffrey Greczyn, chairman of the County
Narcotics Commanders Association, said the majority of those arrested were
'street-level sort of dealers."

In Essex County, where 13 were arrested, including a suspect charged with
attempted murder for trying to run over a narcotics officer, Prosecutor
Patricia Hurt says she was pleased with the outcome and viewed it as a
"positive signal for Essex County."

"This morning, I personally went to our headquarters to view the processing
and also to look at the drugs first-hand, and now I have a better
understanding of the propensity of the problem in Essex County." she said.
"I witnessed bags of heroin, bags of crack cocaine, so there is still work
to do."

Targeting open-air markets will limit the number of first-time buyers
searching for drugs because it will make drugs tougher to find, Verniero
contended.

We hope that today we are sending a very strong message to anyone who would
sell drugs in this state, particularly to children," said Verniero.

The last similar statewide sweep about a year ago resulted in some 700
arrests, said Vemiero. But he said he was not unhappy that this year's
efforts resulted in fewer arrests. He said it was probably too early to
draw any firm conclusions by comparing the results of last year with this
year's.

Staff writer Dawn Onley contributed to this report

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski