Package Being Shipped From China Leads To Drug Bust In Middletown, Investigators Say

A package shipped from China through the United Arab Emirates and to Philadelphia led federal and state investigators to an apartment in Middletown Tuesday.

According to court records obtained Wednesday morning, Janae Higgs, 31, and Quasuan Higgs, 34, both of Middletown, were arrested and charged with various offenses following the Tuesday search warrant execution at their apartment in the Middletown Trace complex.

Two Middletown Trace residents told LevittownNow.com that there were numerous members of law enforcement in the complex Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said the Pennsylvania State Police Clandestine Laboratory Response Team and special agents from federal Homeland Security Investigations were at the apartment complex as part of the investigation.

The investigation began last Friday in Philadelphia when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer working at a DHL shipping facility keyed in on a package being shipped from Shanghai in China through Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to an apartment in Middletown Trace, according to court papers.

The package was declared as “Drill Bit Sample,” which did not match the feel of the package, authorities said.

The package was opened and two pill press dies designed to mark pills with symbols that correspond to the labeling of oxycodone were found inside, authorities said.

On Tuesday, special agents from Homeland Security Investigations and troopers from the state police arrived at the apartment where the box was to be shipped and came in contact with a 5-year-old girl who called Janae Higgs to the door. They talked to her and said she told investigators she made her own vitamins. Janae Higgs further stated she had been using a friend’s pill die and decided to purchase her own recently, authorities said.

Law enforcement secured the apartment and swept it before applying for a search warrant.

While sweeping the unit for any other persons, they the spotted loose powder on a table, bundles of baggies filled with white powder, sifters covered in powder, blenders with powder on them, latex gloves, and a pill press on the floor of a bedroom, state police wrote in court papers.

Quasuan Higgs arrived at the apartment and was stopped by a trooper. He was detained until the search warrant could be executed, state police said.

When Quasuan Higgs was detained, he was allegedly found to have numerous small clear baggies and glassine baggies, which are commonly used to package heroin.

The search warrant was executed at the apartment Tuesday evening by specially-trained troopers.

The bedroom with the powder and other suspected drug pharapernial was searched, and a field test conducted by a technician showed positive for heroin, state police said.

Investigators logged numerous pieces of suspected drug pharapernial with white powder on them, bags containing suspected marijuana, vials, a pill bottle containing a white powder, a tablet press, a 12-ton shop press, two firearms, a Taser, numerous cell phones, and cannabis indica.

Law enforcement on the scene noted they were concerned the heroin may have been laced with fentanyl.

The route the package took from China through the Middle East is a common shipping route used by fentanyl traffickers, investigators said.

Quasuan and Janae Higgs were both charged with manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver; make or sell with intent to defraud; possession of a die punch plate; small amount of marijuana; use/possession of drug paraphernalia; endangering the welfare of children; and unlawful acts/not licensed as pharmacist. Janae Higg was also charged with resisting arrest.

The Higgs were arraigned before on-call District Judge Daniel Finello around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday morning and sent to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10 percent of $100,000 bail.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.