Detroit police confiscate more than $1.5M in drugs and cash after tip

Detroit — A citizen's phone tip led to the arrest of a man who police say was a major drug dealer on the city's northwest side, along with the confiscation of a cache of fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs with a reported street value of more than $1.5 million.

Officers from the Detroit Police Narcotics Conspiracy Division raided a home Thursday in the 18500 block of Dale Street near Grand River and Telegraph on Detroit's northwest side, after someone phoned in a tip to the city's 224-DOPE drug hotline, said Lt. Andrew Guntzviller, head of the Narcotics Section.

"We got a tip that this man had been dealing in this neighborhood," Guntzviller said. "We've been monitoring the location for a long time."

In the raid, police confiscated 290.9 grams of fentanyl, 1468.2 grams of cocaine, 236.6 grams of methamphetamine, 728.5 grams of marijuana, 110 pills, and $16,059 in cash. A handgun also was seized.

Guntzviller said the man they arrested was a major drug dealer. Although, because the suspect has not been charged, police didn't release his name.

"When we do these investigations, we try to go to the top of the ladder with the dealers, but it looks like this guy was the top of the ladder," he said.

The city set up the 224-DOPE hotline in February 1988 during the crack epidemic that fueled 624 homicides in Detroit that year. There were more than 2,000 tips phoned in within 24 hours of the hotline being activated.

Guntzviller said tips to the hotline have led to other arrests in the past. In April 2014, the department launched the "April Showers," initiative in which officers raided 24 drug houses throughout the city, based on tips to the 224-DOPE line.

ghunter@detroitnews.com

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Twitter: @GeorgeHunter_DN