D.C. Police seized 80 pounds of heroin shipped from overseas Tuesday in a major bust resulting from a joint agency drug investigation.
The Metropolitan Police Department, executing four search warrants, found the 40 kilograms of heroin on the premises and arrested ten individuals. Authorities said the heroin carries an estimated street value of $4 million. The heroin primarily supplied the Benning Road corridor of the District, according to a press release from the MPD.
Authorities said drug runners in India and Africa shipped the heroin for sale in the District through commercial mail. Additional operatives in other countries were also involved and supplied heroin for sale in D.C. and across the United States. The suspects also used personal and commercial bank accounts to funnel the illicit payments. (RELATED: Virginia Sees Dramatic Spike In Heroin Overdoses, Emergency Room Visits)
The number of emergency room visits from heroin overdose more than doubled in the past year in Virginia. The Virginia Department of Health revealed over the first four months of 2016, roughly 500 people visited emergency rooms in the state with the primary discharge diagnosis being heroin overdose.
Officials say one of the driving factors in the alarming spike in heroin overdose is from legislation cracking down on prescription painkillers abuse. Virginia and Maryland policies regarding prescription drugs have been tightened, making it harder for addicts to obtain pills.
“What we’ve done is closed one door and opened a potential door which is now being filled by this illicit market of heroin,” Dr. Marissa Levine, Virginia’s state health commissioner told The Washington Post. “I do worry about the ongoing impact in terms of what hospitals can do and then what does it mean … for people seeking emergency care.”
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