Two men were arrested on felony drug charges on Tuesday as they were stepping off the ferry in Vineyard Haven, the latest in a series of major drug busts over the past year involving suspects either caught selling drugs here or trying to bring large amounts of heroin to the Vineyard.
The Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force, working in conjunction with the Tisbury and Massachusetts State Police, arrested Jose Luis Arias, 29, of Jamaica Plain, and Wilken Ariaz-Baez, 24, at about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday soon after they arrived on the boat and climbed into a taxicab.
The Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force and Oak Bluffs police arrested five people last week on a series of drug charges, including heroin and cocaine trafficking.
On Tuesday the task force executed a search warrant at a house on Lyme street in Oak Bluffs following a nearly four-month investigation. Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, Massachusetts state police and members of the drug task force assisted with the investigation and arrests.
Two Island men were arrested this week in connection with a nearly 10-month investigation into a large-scale drug trafficking operation by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force. The arrests led to search warrants being issued in three different states.
Sean Herrmann, 31, was arrested by a federal drug enforcement task force at his residence in East Greenbush, N.Y. last Wednesday on federal charges of drug possession and distribution, DEA special agent Erin McKenzie-Mulvey said.
An aerial drug sweep of the Island this month by the Massachusetts State Police and federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) task force found 169 illegal marijuana plants. Authorities are still investigating who planted the crops and have yet to make any arrests or issue summonses.
“There will be charges, maybe this week,” said state police Sergeant Jeff Stone, also head of the Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force. “But as of right now the investigation is ongoing.”
The Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force arrested an Island man on Monday as he was driving off the ferry in Vineyard Haven with 50 grams of uncut heroin hidden in the brake light of his pickup truck.
Police said the heroin has an estimated street value of $10,000.
The Martha’s Vineyard Drug Task Force arrested Hannah Garde, 24, of Vineyard Haven, on new drug charges last Wednesday after executing a search warrant at a home where she was staying on Fisherman’s Knot Road in Edgartown.
Police found drug paraphernalia and two grams of cocaine hidden on her person.
The warrant was issued as a result of an ongoing narcotics investigation stemming from neighbor complaints of drug activity at the home at 36 Fisherman’s Knot Road.
