NORTHEAST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have arrested nearly a dozen people during a major drug raid in a Northeast Miami-Dade neighborhood.
Residents were blocked from returning to their homes near Northeast 14th Avenue and 116th Street while Miami-Dade Police and FBI investigators swarmed the neighborhood, Thursday night.
Dalene Jacob, who lives in the area, thought authorities were in the area for a training exercise. She soon realized that was not the case.
“I thought it was training, and then I came outside, and nope, it was a bust,” Jacob said. “I thought someone may have gotten killed when I saw it roped off.”
Investigators said the raid is part of a three-month-long investigation called Operation Heat Wave as they search for drugs and guns.
Officials said police arrested 11 out of their 14 targets in the operation.
“I see them — about five or six people — coming out in the hazmat, fully loaded head to toe, and they looked like they were counting stuff. I’m not sure what is being taken out,” Jacob said.
“We know that there’s a possibility with this heroin was fentanyl,” Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said. “Fentanyl is very, very toxic, even with touch, and of course, one gram of fentanyl will kill somebody instantly. That’s why we’ve been having so many overdoses because they’re mixing it with heroin.”
Neighbors said the sting came out of nowhere. They said the authorities showed up and stayed for hours, leaving them concerned and wanting answers.
One neighbor said she began recording video on her cellphone after she was forced to remain inside her home.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” the neighbor said in the recording.
In the recording, agents could be seen in a nearby park suiting up and preparing to make a move.
The arrests left neighbors stunned that this happened close to home.
“I’m shocked,” a neighbor said. “I’m surprised. I don’t know what to say. I’ve never seen any such.”
Police have yet to release the names of those who were arrested.
7News cameras captured investigators out in the street packing up their gear, just after 10 p.m.
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