3 arrested, nearly 300 bricks of heroin seized during sting outside local restaurant

MONROEVILLE, Pa. — Three men were arrested and nearly 300 bricks of heroin were seized during an undercover sting operation in Monroeville, police said.

Officers from Monroeville, Penn Hills, Wilkinsburg and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office set up the sting using a confidential informant.

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Maximo Almonte, 48, Noel Argedys, 26, and Odai Hernendez, 30, were arrested Feb. 6 when they met in the parking lot of the Outback Steakhouse on Mosside Boulevard, police said.

The men were traveling from Philadelphia.

“The males, who are to be from the ‘badlands’ of Philadelphia utilize numerous cars and an organized structure to transport narcotics from Philadelphia across the state to Pittsburgh and the surrounding boroughs,” according to a criminal complaint.

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When the men got out of the car, detectives saw drugs inside, the complaint said. During a search, a bag containing nearly 300 bricks of heroin was found in the trunk.

Police estimate the heroin amounted to about 14,800 individual doses and was worth about $148,000.

Dozens of empty storefronts on Pittsburgh’s South Side Dozens of empty storefronts on Pittsburgh’s South Side

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