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AG Office: Raid Yields $1.5 Million In Suspected Heroin, 9 Drug Dealers Arrested

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)—Nine people have been arrested after authorities found between 30,000 to 40,000 bags of suspected heroin in a Friday morning raid, according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

"This was a major, and I want to stress major, drug operation here in Philadelphia," said Attorney General Josh Shapiro Friday. "We are only halfway through the search of the home and already uncovered at least 10,000 bags of what we believe to be heroin and possibly fentanyl."

Agents are still assessing the large cache of drugs, and their estimate is between 30,000 and 40,000 bags of suspected heroin, as well as between three and four kilograms of unbagged narcotics, with a street value of $1.5 Million.

Officials say  officers executed a search warrant at along the 1100 block Rosalie Street Friday morning. The raid resulted in the arrest of nine men found throughout the house.

"We have seen this year so far 854 drug dealers that we've taken off the street personally," Shapiro said Friday.

Authorities say there's such a heavy concentration of drugs in the house that at least four Philadelphia Police Officers and one attorney general investigator were exposed while doing their jobs.

Most had to be given the life-saving drug Narcan as a precaution and taken to the hospital.

For the rest of the evening only agents dressed head to toe in body suits with air tanks moved in and out of the home.

The raided house was cordoned off, along with several blocks nearby as a precaution in the event the drugs were contaminating the air. That cordon has been ended, and the house was sealed last night by the city's Licenses & Inspections Department.

The nine suspects in custody are from the Dominican Republic and all are being arraigned on various charges in connection to the drug operation.

Attorney General Shapiro commended the agents with the Pennsylvania State police, Philadelphia police and the Office of Attorney General.

"Our agents, working with Philadelphia police and the Pennsylvania State Police, got these drug dealers out of Summerdale and took the necessary steps to restore public safety to that neighborhood yesterday," Shapiro said.

"As I told the neighbors in Summerdale last night, drug dealing is not a victimless crime," he said. "We hear them, we know what they're going through, and we'll work around the clock to get the people peddling these poisons out of their community."

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office is asking for $1 million bail. A bail hearing is set for Sept. 15.

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