A city man was arraigned today on multiple drug charges following his arrest on Friday by Essex County sheriff’s detectives.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that officers from his department’s Bureau of Narcotics staged a plainclothes surveillance operation late last week in response to numerous neighborhood complaints of open air drug trafficking near the intersection of North 9th Street and 4th Avenue.
“At that time, a suspect, later identified as Ibn Waller, 18 of Newark, was observed loitering in front of 212 North 9th Street,” Sheriff Fontoura said.
Within minutes, a male passerby stopped at the location and engaged in a brief conversation with Waller who withdrew items from his fanny pack and exchanged them with the male for cash.
“Believing they had just witnessed a drug sale, our BON detectives moved in to further investigate,” Fontoura added. “Waller’s fanny pack was found to contain 177 vials of ‘crack’ cocaine, 27 heroin-filled envelops, stamped ‘KILLING SEASON’ in red ink and $142 in cash.”
Waller was placed under arrest and charged with two counts each of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute and possession of CDS with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of Dr. William Horton School.
A canvass of the area for the suspected buyer proved unsuccessful.
At today’s arraignment, Waller was ordered held at the county jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.