FREEHOLD — Monmouth County investigators this morning dismantled a suspected multi-million dollar drug ring, a group accused of spreading more than 10,000 bags of heroin along the Jersey Shore each week.

The crew — which had ties to the powerful Fruit Town and Brick City Brims factions of the Bloods in Newark — sold more than $2 million in heroin during the course of the investigation, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said today.

Heroin use has exploded throughout the state during recent years, especially among users aged 18 to 25, according to the Governor’s Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse. The number of admissions for heroin addicts in that age group jumped by 12 percent last year, and state officials said Monmouth and Ocean counties were two of the counties hit hardest by the surge in abuse.

"It’s poisoning our communities," Gramiccioni said. "If it’s not poisoning the community that some of you are in now, it will be."

After an eight-month investigation, Gramiccioni said, more than 150 officers spread out Monday morning and arrested 41 people connected to the alleged drug ring. In all, 52 people have been charged with drug or weapons offenses, and 11 remain at large.

Ronald Daniels Jr., 23, of Long Branch, and 21-year-old Highlands resident Anna Flores were charged as the leaders of the organization. Gramiccioni said Daniels Jr., a known member of the Fruit Town Brims, conspired with several other gang members to funnel heroin from Essex County to the Shore communities. Hassain Jenkins, 39, of Orange, 40-year-old Newark resident Roger Barber and 29-year-old Long Branch resident Louis Pennington were accused of acting as the crew’s main suppliers.

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Undercover detectives infiltrated the ring at various points during the investigation, according to Gramiccioni. He said his officers seized $150,000 in heroin and $17,000 in drug money during the probe when several mid-level dealers were taken down.

Bail for the defendants had not been set, while all were being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution.

While many of the 41 people charged in connection with the drug ring were either suppliers or dealers, Gramiccioni said, more than 20 "repeat buyers" were captured. The prosecutor said the arrests show the depth of the heroin problem throughout the Jersey Shore.

"Heroin is pervasive through all walks of life here in the county," he said. "It doesn’t discriminate with regard to age, sex, race or ethnicity."

The accused buyers lived in several locations throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties, including Oceanport, West Long Branch, Rumson, Eatontown, Red Bank, Bayville, Little Silver and Sea Bright, authorities said.

During the investigation, authorities said, members of the Fruit Town Brims and their conspirators orchestrated and/or personally sold approximately 200 bricks, or 10,000 bags, of heroin per week, including more than 1,000 bags of heroin to undercover detectives on dozens of occasions.

A brick is a package containing fifty $10 bags of heroin, authorities said.

Overall, the criminal enterprise was responsible for the trafficking of more than 4,000, or 200,000 bags, bricks of heroin during the course of the investigation, said the prosecutor’s office. Law enforcement seized more than 300 bricks, or 15,000 bags, of heroin and approximately $17,000 in U.S. currency, they said.

Robert Koval, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Acting Special Agent In Charge in New Jersey, said the amount of heroin flowing through Monmouth County highlighted the foothold the drug has throughout the state.

"Most people’s attitude is well it can’t happen here," Koval said. "This is living proof that it does."

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