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12 Arrested In Heroin Crackdown, Dubbed 'Operation: Dragon Slayer II'

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Law enforcement put a dent in a narcotics operation with sweeping arrests across Miami-Dade County.

Operation Dragon Slayer II - Drug Bust
(Source: Miami-Dade Police Dept.)

Dubbed 'Operation: Dragon Slayer II,' investigators with local, state, and federal agencies worked in conjunction to make 12 arrests in a bust focused on combating the use and sale of heroin.

The early Wednesday morning raid by Miami-Dade Police, in collaboration with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, Narcotics Bureau and DEA led to the arrest of 12 suspected heroin dealers.

Agents also seized heroin, marijuana, firearms and cash.

"We were able to seize 33 grams of heroin," said MDPD Det. Alvaro Zabaleta. "We have three firearms, one rifle. Out of the three firearms, two were stolen."

Operation Dragon Slayer II took part in the northern and Southern parts of the county on Tuesday and Wednesday. The focus was combating the sale of heroin in Miami-Dade County.

"We've had a lot of fatalities because of the overdoses, simply because of the fact that now they're mixing the fentanyl with the heroin. And they also now have carfentanil that they're mixing with the heroin."

Operation Dragon Slayer II - Drug Bust
(Source: Miami-Dade Police Dept.)

Miami-Dade Police said they're going after dealers, not users, and that it's the users that have actually helped them make some of the arrests.

Related: Controversial Needle Program Aims To Curb Heroin Health Crisis

"Our detectives, throughout the investigation, they were responding to scenes that were related to overdoses to talk to the patients, to provide them the resources they need and, at the same time, find out what important information they can find out on who's selling this," said Det. Zabaleta.

Some of the dealers are connected and some are not, detectives shared. However, there are other dealers they're looking for that are still out there and the operation is far from over.

"We're not going to let up on the efforts of the heroin," said Det. Zabaleta. "We cannot let it slip out of our hands and, therefore, we have to stay on top of it. We have to keep the pressure on."

Last year's 'Operation: Dragon Slayer' nabbed 16 arrests.

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