Heroin mill shut down, cache of weapons, drugs seized, Camden police say

After an investigation spanning several months, police raided two properties in Camden on Thursday.

CAMDEN -- Production at a city heroin mill has been stopped and a cache of weapons seized, authorities said.

After a several-week investigation by members of the Camden County Police Department's HIDTA Narco-Gang Unit, search warrants were executed Thursday at two sites in the Whitman Park section of the city, according to Camden County Chief of Police Scott Thomson.

Thomson said the investigation knocked out a facility that was distributing up to seven different stamps of heroin in the area.

In addition to confiscating a large number of guns, police arrested two men and also seized drugs, drug packaging materials, ammunition and cash.

"We will maintain a relentless effort to target violent drug gangs and the poison they distribute on the streets," Thomson said in a press release issued Friday announcing the raid. "Overdoses in the region continue to rise and the correlating gang violence must be stopped."

Camden County Police were aided by the Camden County Sheriff's Office in their raid in a house on the 1100 block of Thurman Street and another on the 900 block of Jackson Street.

According to police, weapons recovered included:

* A loaded Mac-11 9mm handgun with an extended magazine

*  A loaded 9mm Browning Arms handgun with an extended magazine

*  A .45 caliber Colt handgun

*  A loaded .45 caliber Ruger handgun with a laser sight and extended magazine

* A loaded Llama 9mm handgun

Drug ring that operated in Camden, Philly busted

*  A loaded Crossman classic .177 caliber pellet gun

*  A loaded Storm XT .177 caliber pellet gun

Also, 300 rounds of ammunition, a quantity of packaged heroin and a quantity of crack cocaine, both packaged and unpackaged, along with numerous packaging materials for drugs and more than $2,000 in cash were confiscated, according to a press release announcing the raid.

The two suspects arrested were:

* Lewis Miller, 34, of Camden, was charged with four counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, four counts of possession of hollow point bullets, four counts of certain persons not to possess weapons and three counts of possession of a large capacity magazine. He was remanded to the Camden County Jail with bail set at 10 percent of $478,000.

* Miguel Nunez, 39, of Camden, was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school. His bail was set at 10 percent of $101,000.