Somerville, NJ – A three-month multi-agency narcotics investigation ended in a major bust this month when law enforcement raided a Dunellen home and seized a massive cache of drugs, weapons, and packaging materials, officials announced Friday.
Pablo Hernandez-Garcia, 38, of Dunellen, was arrested on August 13 following the execution of a Superior Court search warrant at his North Avenue residence. Authorities say the search turned up an FN Herstal handgun—with a high-capacity magazine and hollow point rounds—that had been reported stolen out of Louisiana in 2020, along with more than a kilogram of suspected heroin and cocaine combined.
The investigation, led by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force in partnership with the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey State Police Drug and Weapons Trafficking Central Unit, resulted in the seizure of approximately 723 grams of heroin and 385 grams of cocaine. Officials estimate the street value of the recovered narcotics and firearms at $223,350.
The Middlesex County Special Operations Response Team carried out the search warrant, and investigators also recovered materials consistent with drug manufacturing and packaging.
Hernandez-Garcia now faces a total of ten charges, including three first-degree felonies: possession with intent to distribute both heroin and cocaine (over five ounces each), and maintaining a controlled dangerous substance production facility. He is also charged with firearm-related offenses, receiving stolen property, and possessing illegal ammunition.
He is being held at the Somerset County Jail pending a detention hearing.
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Key Points
- Pablo Hernandez-Garcia was arrested in Dunellen with heroin, cocaine, and a stolen gun
- The narcotics seized had an estimated street value of $223,350
- He faces ten criminal charges, including first-degree distribution and firearm offenses
A stolen gun and over a million dollars’ worth of narcotics landed a Dunellen man at the center of a major New Jersey drug takedown.