Drugs seized from Cliffside Park home

New Jersey State Police recently seized drugs with a street value of nearly $6 million from a Cliffside Park home.

According to New Jersey State Police officials, the drugs -- heroin and crystal methamphetamine, were seized Dec. 21 from a Nelson Avenue residence in the borough. The home is alleged to be a processing site for the illicit and illegal drugs.

One arrest resulted from the seizure. Julio Cesar Mendoza, 34, of Manhattan, was arrested leaving the home with drugs strapped to his person.

According to police, Mendoza walked outside the home and was arrested with two kilos of heroin secured around his waist.

The kilos were shaped like thick insoles of shoes, possibly indicating the way they may have been smuggled into the country.

After arresting Mendoza, detectives searched the home, leading them to another 16 pounds of heroin, large quantities of crystal methamphetamine and other items related to the narcotics trade, according to a state police statement.

"If broken down into individual packages, the street value of the narcotics seized is estimated to be $6 million," state police said. "That much heroin could have generated up to 600,000 decks, or individual doses of the highly addictive drug to be sold on the streets of New Jersey and New York."

Police believe Mendoza was the primary operator of a multimillion dollar operation being run out of the home.

According to the New Jersey Attorney General's office, Mendoza was charged with possession of controlled dangerous substances, possession within 1,000 feet of a public school, intent to distribute, maintaining a heroin production facility and possession of drug-related paraphernalia.

The Dec. 21 raid was conducted by the New Jersey State Police Drug Trafficking North Unit and the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Mendoza is believed to be the primary operator of the drug operation, officials said. There were no other people in the home at the time of the arrest and search.

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Drugs seized from Cliffside Park home