Police seek Northland Community Council's help in stemming heroin sales
Heroin deals are going down daily in quiet Northland neighborhoods.
Residents probably barely notice a thing.
A Mexican drug cartel pushing cheap black tar heroin in the United States has hit upon a method of selling the drug that almost resembles a pizza delivery operation, according to Columbus Division of Police officers who spoke at last week's Northland Community Council meeting.
"Obviously we're up against something that's well funded, highly sophisticated," Officer Wesley R. "Wes" Hettinger told NCC members.
The cops were on hand to alert residents to what's been going on in subdivisions throughout the area that's in close proximity to state Route 161, busy Morse Road and Interstates 71 and 270.
And to ask for assistance.
"Spread the word," said Commander Larry Rod. "Get people involved. We need the community's help."
"These people are coming to your neighborhoods," Hettinger said. "They're doing their deals in your neighborhoods."
The sellers are driving nondescript cars, Toyotas or Hondas that blend in with the thousands of other foreign sedans on the streets and highways of central Ohio. The Hispanic men are neatly dressed and clean-cut, and might lead seemingly unremarkable lives in the very neighborhoods where they ply their illegal trade.
Often illegally in this country, they are paid $400 for a six-day work week by the Xalixco Cartel, which takes its name from a city in the Mexican state of Nayarit, an area that produces opium poppies from which the heroin is derived.
"They don't like to draw attention themselves," Hettinger said. "They do their deals 9 to 5 so it looks like they're going to work."
The buyers are likely from out of the area. Arrests have been made of people from 23 Ohio counties, Hettinger said.
That's because, Officer Tim Lewis said, a balloon of black tar heroin sells for $10 in Columbus. It would cost $50 on the streets of, say, Marysville, he added.
Because the drug is so cheap, according to Lewis, it's starting to make its way into high schools.
Buyers and sellers of black tar heroin make connections in obscure corners of business parking lots, perhaps a McDonald's restaurant or some strip shopping center along East Dublin Granville or Morse roads, Hettinger said.
"They will drive by the buyers, who will then follow behind the dealer's vehicle," according to a handout the officers provided at the NCC session. "The dealer will drive around in the neighborhood until he feels it's safe to stop. The dealer will then pull over as will the buyer and an individual from the buyers' vehicle will enter into the dealer's. Sometimes the deal will be conducted at that location. Typically, the dealer will drive around some more, conducting the transaction and stopping when it's done.
"The buyer will return to his vehicle and they will drive away."
"That's how they like to conduct their deals," Hettinger said.
In response to a question from a council member, the officer said that so far none of the dealers arrested have had weapons, and that's because of the business model the drug cartel has adopted. If stopped or detained, their dealers might have time to swallow the balloons of heroin. Absent a gun or some other weapon, and barring one of the balloons bursting with fatal consequences, the worst the drug sellers face is deportation.
The cops on hand for last week's monthly NCC meeting are part of a crackdown effort that was formed in response to growing number of heroin buyers from out of central Ohio being arrested on the streets of Northland neighborhoods.
"It baffled us how big this problem was," Hettinger said. "We were making three and four arrests a day."
"Heroin is sort of a silent problem; no one sees it," Commander Rod said.
But people do see the result of heroin addiction, he added: car break-ins, home burglaries and other types of crime feed drug habits.
In the handout, the officers offered suggestions on what citizens should do if they think a heroin buy is being made in their neighborhood:
"First and foremost, be vigilant. Get good descriptions of vehicles, occupants and most of all the registration. Contact the Columbus police non-emergency line at 645-4545. Give all the information to the dispatcher. If you have possibly identified a buyer waiting in your neighborhood, call right away and report the suspicious individuals."
"Get those tag numbers," Hettinger said. "Give it to the dispatchers."
Residents probably barely notice a thing.
A Mexican drug cartel pushing cheap black tar heroin in the United States has hit upon a method of selling the drug that almost resembles a pizza delivery operation, according to Columbus Division of Police officers who spoke at last week's Northland Community Council meeting.
"Obviously we're up against something that's well funded, highly sophisticated," Officer Wesley R. "Wes" Hettinger told NCC members.
The cops were on hand to alert residents to what's been going on in subdivisions throughout the area that's in close proximity to state Route 161, busy Morse Road and Interstates 71 and 270.
And to ask for assistance.
"Spread the word," said Commander Larry Rod. "Get people involved. We need the community's help."
"These people are coming to your neighborhoods," Hettinger said. "They're doing their deals in your neighborhoods."
The sellers are driving nondescript cars, Toyotas or Hondas that blend in with the thousands of other foreign sedans on the streets and highways of central Ohio. The Hispanic men are neatly dressed and clean-cut, and might lead seemingly unremarkable lives in the very neighborhoods where they ply their illegal trade.
Often illegally in this country, they are paid $400 for a six-day work week by the Xalixco Cartel, which takes its name from a city in the Mexican state of Nayarit, an area that produces opium poppies from which the heroin is derived.
"They don't like to draw attention themselves," Hettinger said. "They do their deals 9 to 5 so it looks like they're going to work."
The buyers are likely from out of the area. Arrests have been made of people from 23 Ohio counties, Hettinger said.
That's because, Officer Tim Lewis said, a balloon of black tar heroin sells for $10 in Columbus. It would cost $50 on the streets of, say, Marysville, he added.
Because the drug is so cheap, according to Lewis, it's starting to make its way into high schools.
Buyers and sellers of black tar heroin make connections in obscure corners of business parking lots, perhaps a McDonald's restaurant or some strip shopping center along East Dublin Granville or Morse roads, Hettinger said.
"They will drive by the buyers, who will then follow behind the dealer's vehicle," according to a handout the officers provided at the NCC session. "The dealer will drive around in the neighborhood until he feels it's safe to stop. The dealer will then pull over as will the buyer and an individual from the buyers' vehicle will enter into the dealer's. Sometimes the deal will be conducted at that location. Typically, the dealer will drive around some more, conducting the transaction and stopping when it's done.
"The buyer will return to his vehicle and they will drive away."
"That's how they like to conduct their deals," Hettinger said.
In response to a question from a council member, the officer said that so far none of the dealers arrested have had weapons, and that's because of the business model the drug cartel has adopted. If stopped or detained, their dealers might have time to swallow the balloons of heroin. Absent a gun or some other weapon, and barring one of the balloons bursting with fatal consequences, the worst the drug sellers face is deportation.
The cops on hand for last week's monthly NCC meeting are part of a crackdown effort that was formed in response to growing number of heroin buyers from out of central Ohio being arrested on the streets of Northland neighborhoods.
"It baffled us how big this problem was," Hettinger said. "We were making three and four arrests a day."
"Heroin is sort of a silent problem; no one sees it," Commander Rod said.
But people do see the result of heroin addiction, he added: car break-ins, home burglaries and other types of crime feed drug habits.
In the handout, the officers offered suggestions on what citizens should do if they think a heroin buy is being made in their neighborhood:
"First and foremost, be vigilant. Get good descriptions of vehicles, occupants and most of all the registration. Contact the Columbus police non-emergency line at 645-4545. Give all the information to the dispatcher. If you have possibly identified a buyer waiting in your neighborhood, call right away and report the suspicious individuals."
"Get those tag numbers," Hettinger said. "Give it to the dispatchers."
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