2 MEN ARRESTED IN DETROIT IN LETHAL HEROIN INVESTIGATION

Police say they got 'key' supplier in Jeffries project area

DETROIT - Two men were arrested in what law enforcement officials are
calling a significant breakthrough in their investigation into a
lethal form of heroin blamed for more than 100 deaths in the Detroit
area alone.

Wayne County sheriff's deputies and federal drug agents said the two
suspects arrested Thursday sold the mix of heroin and the
prescription drug fentanyl.

Both are accused of selling the drug from the Jeffries housing
project north of downtown. However, they did not work together, police said.

"We think we have the key player who supplied the Jeffries project,"
Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans said about one of those arrested, a
45-year-old man from Detroit.

The man - who Evans said was a distributor - had been under
surveillance for nearly a week before his arrest outside of his
apartment Thursday morning. Officials say he possessed more than 80
individual packets of the heroin mix, known on the street as "Magic"
or "A-1." It can be sold for $10 to $20 per packet.

The man's home also was searched, and officials found heroin,
marijuana, suspected packets of pure fentanyl, packaging materials,
three handguns, a shotgun and about $5,000 in cash.

"We have made a dent in what has been a crisis in this community,"
said Evans, who believes many of those who purchased drugs from the
operation at the housing project are residents of suburban communities.

The other man, who police say has been dealing the fentanyl-laced
heroin, was arrested Thursday after he sold drugs to an undercover deputy.

The two men, who are being held at the Wayne County Jail, had not
been formally charged when the arrests were announced Friday morning.

"Drug dealers don't care about who they are selling to, and you can
just as easily become a victim," Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano
said at the news conference.

Fentanyl, a legally produced painkiller, is 80 times stronger than morphine.

Officials in cities from Chicago to Philadelphia have reported deaths
from the combination, more than 200 in all.