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Officer Eric Blesing stopped a gray 2004 Chevy Tahoe whose driver ran a stop sign at North 5th and Jefferson streets just after 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said.
Lulzim Alimi of Butler was driving with a suspended license and didn't have proper paperwork for the vehicle, the sheriff said.
Blesing then noticed a small, clear plastic shopping bag on top of the center console, in plain view, that contained five bundles of 10 envelopes each of heroin stamped "HITMAN" in red ink, he said.
After admitting the heroin was his, Alimi was processed on drug charges and ordered held in the Passaic County Jail, Berdnik said. The Tahoe owner also retrieved the vehicle, he said.
Another sheriff's officer picked off another 50 folds of heroin about 2½ hours later, the sheriff said.
Officer Donald Reddin stopped a blue Nissan with no front license plate in the area of 10th Avenue and East 30th Street, Berdnik said.
The driver, 30-year-old Michael Carcaterra of Bushkill, Pa, "was extremely nervous, sweaty and pale, even though the AC in his vehicle was on at a high fan speed," the sheriff said.
Carcaterra consented to a search of the car, which turned up five bundles of 10 envelopes of heroin each, all stamped "EL PLAGA," Berdnik said.
Caracaterra was taken into custody, processed on drug possession charges and released with a court date under New Jersey's 2017 Bail Reform and Speedy Trial Act, he said.
He also received several traffic summonses, the sheriff said.
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