NEWARK, NJ — For the fourth time in 10 days, on Jan. 23, the Essex County Sheriff’s Bureau of Narcotics took a gun used in the drug trade off the streets of the city.
Detectives took two handguns off suspected drug dealers, a third gun used as a “community gun” by gang members, and a fourth seized during the execution of a warrant at the home of a convicted drug dealer who remains at large.
“Nearly all these investigations come as a result of community complaints,” Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura said. “We want the law-abiding citizens of these areas to know we are listening to them, working with them, and are dedicated to making their streets safe and free of the drug trade and violence.”
In the most recent incident, the sheriff’s narcotic detectives had a warrant to search the apartment of Ahmed Reed, 44, on Johnson Avenue in Newark. After gaining entry into the apartment, detectives recovered a loaded Hi Point .40 caliber handgun and other ammunition, 102 glassine bags of heroin stamped as “Bentley” and “Baseball,” distributable amounts cocaine and marijuana, and equipment to weigh and package the drugs. Reed was not home at the time of the search and a warrant is out for his arrest.
In the early morning of Jan. 18, police executed a search warrant at first-floor apartment on Schley Street near Chancellor Avenue. In a car parked in the driveway of the home, detectives found 221 glassine bags of heroin, stamped with the names “Blacklist,” “Owl” and “Exit,” and a Smith & Wesson 910 semi-automatic handgun. Vanessa Spivey, 53, was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a handgun and hollow point bullets, as well as several counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute. In the bedroom of Spivey’s 16-year-old son, detectives found several packages of marijuana and a digital scale. The boy was also arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute.
Later in the afternoon, a weapons investigation led detectives to the porch of a house on Clark Street near Mount Pleasant Avenue, where they recovered an unloaded 9mm Taurus stashed between two tires. The gun is being tested by the sheriff’s ballistics lab to see if it has been used in past homicides or shootings.
These incidents followed the arrest of Nafis Kedar, 26, who detectives reportedly observed exiting a building on South 6th Street with a semi-automatic weapon in his hand. Kedar allegedly attempted to conceal the gun and retreat into the house when he spotted the detectives, but was quickly apprehend. He was charged with unlawful possession of a stolen handgun and possession of the drug ecstasy.
The Essex County Sheriff’s Bureau of Narcotic is made up of detectives from the Newark and Bloomfield police departments.
These charges are merely allegations; all persons are considered innocent unless or until they are found guilty in a court of law.
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