East Anchorage Drug Bust Part of State-Wide Rise in Heroin, Cocaine, Meth

Anchorage police seized a large supply of illegal drugs at an East Anchorage residence over the weekend. 

Officers with the police department’s Special Assignment Unit received information that drugs were coming in and out of a house on Rocky Mountain Court near Russian Jack Park. Department spokesperson Jennifer Castro said the tip allowed officers to obtain search warrants that led to the cache of drugs–estimated by APD to be worth $111,000 at the street level. Intercepting drugs before they get that far is exactly where the Special Assignment Unit focuses its efforts.

“You kind of have to think of it as a large retail store,” Castro explained. “You’re shutting down the retail store and so therefore they’re not able to supply those goods and services that the dealers are trying to provide to their clientele. So, when we’re able to make busts at this level we know that it’s going to have an impact all the way down to the street level.”

Castro says a seizure the size of last Friday night’s is a big deal for the department’s drug interdiction efforts. Besides the value, the department believes they halted the supply of drugs to more than a hundred dealers and users.

But more unusual was the discovery of three different hard drugs all in significant quantity: 24 grams of heroin, 101 grams of cocaine, and 683 grams of methamphetamine. All three drugs are on the rise in Alaska, according to the Department of Public Safety.

“Across the state we’re seeing an increase from all law enforcement of seizures of heroin, cocaine and meth, as well,” said Castro. “So when we look at those trends we are seeing increases in those. Especially a dramatic increase in seizures of heroin.”

Both suspects were charged with two felony counts for misconduct involving a controlled substance, one connected to the sale of methamphetamines, and the other related to intent to distribute near a recreation area.