Police seize $170K in drugs
Braddock politician among those facing charges for heroin possession
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During two drug busts earlier this week, Altoona police seized nearly 10,000 packets of heroin with a combined street value of $170,000, an Altoona Police Department spokesman said.
Altoona police Sgt. Matt Plummer said Friday that Altoona police learned about a large shipment of illegal substances headed for Blair County on April 17.
Acting on information from confidential sources, police raided a location Sunday, where they discovered about $8,700 in cash and 74 bricks of suspected heroin, or about 3,700 individual packets, valued at about $70,000, Plummer said.
On Monday, Altoona police and Blair County Drug Task Force members executed a search warrant on a vehicle driven by Braddock resident Sir-Jihad Z. Valcin, 18, in connection with the previously seized heroin, police reported.
Braddock Water Authority Board member Raemon Prunty, 20, was in the vehicle with Valcin, court documents stated. Neither Prunty, nor Valcin were the registered owners of the vehicle, police reported.
Inside the vehicle, police discovered 100 bricks of suspected heroin, which contained about 5,000 individual packets valued at about $100,000, a criminal complaint stated. Police noted they also found about $220 cash, a bag of marijuana and three cellphones in the vehicle.
The packets discovered in the vehicle were stamped with the labels "Purple Rain" and "Tomb Raider," police reported.
After Prunty was secured in a cell, police searched the vehicle in which he was transported and found another packet of heroin stamped with the label "Tomb Raider," which police reported was not in the vehicle prior to the arrest.
According to Prunty's Facebook page, he is currently campaigning for a Braddock Borough Council seat.
Prunty and Valcin were arraigned Tuesday by Magisterial District Judge Matthew Dunio. Neither were able to post their individual $250,000 cash bails, so both are being detained at the Blair County Prison and preliminary hearings are scheduled for April 28 with Magisterial District Judge Ben Jones.
Police are still searching for 21-year-old Pittsburgh resident Rasul A. Aquil, who they identified as the source of the heroin, Plummer said.
Altoona police officers and agents from the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office previously traveled to the Pittsburgh area in an attempt to arrest Aquil; however, he was not located, an APD news release stated. Efforts to locate and detain Aquil are still underway, Plummer said.
Prunty and Valcin are each charged with possession with intent, conspiracy to possession with intent, possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance by a person not registered. Prunty also is charged with tampering with or fabricating evidence.
"This is a significant amount of heroin that we prevented from entering the community," he said. "This drug operation has been in the works for several months, likely importing millions of dollars worth of heroin into Blair County. This is a big win for keeping drugs out of the Altoona area."
Mirror Staff Writer Ike Fredregill is at 814-946-7458.