SARANAC LAKE – In one of the largest heroin busts this village has ever seen, police seized roughly 95 grams of the drug – hundreds of doses – from a Shepard Avenue apartment Sunday night.

Police also seized 14 grams of cocaine, in both powder and crack form.

Five people were arrested: three from Plattsburgh and two believed to be from the New York City area. Police say the group had just arrived in the village and planned to sell heroin and cocaine here.

Saranac Lake police Sgt. Casey Reardon said his department got a tip from the state Division of Parole that one of its parolees, 50-year-old Marvin Bombard of Plattsburgh, was traveling to an apartment at 30 Shepard Ave. with a group of people. Bombard was released from the maximum-security Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Washington County in December 2013 after serving more than 20 years for rape and sodomy.

“They had some other information from a confidential source that they were traveling with a large amount of heroin and cocaine, and a couple of people traveling with Marvin had just come up from the New York City area,” Reardon said.

Parole officers tracked the group from Plattsburgh to Saranac Lake, and village police were able to determine they were at the Shepard Avenue apartment “through observation and surveillance,” Reardon said. Police applied for and obtained a search warrant, and a group of officers showed up at the apartment a few minutes before midnight.

Inside, police found the group in possession of the heroin, which Reardon said has a street value of approximately $30,000.

“Some of it was packaged for sale, and some of it was bulk, and there was packaging materials there,” he said.

It’s not the biggest heroin bust in the village – in August 2013, police found 6 ounces, or 170 grams, in an apartment house on Broadway – but “It’s close,” Reardon said. “We’ve done some pretty big coke busts, but I think this is the most heroin we’ve taken in one haul.”

Reardon said there was “little resistance” from the group when the team of law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies, including a U.S. Border Patrol K-9 unit, showed up.

“It was a very small residence, and we took them completely by surprise,” Reardon said. “We were in the house, and they were on the ground before they really knew what was going on.”

In addition to Bombard, police arrested Katherine A. Beebie, 29, and Alex M. Furnace, 27, of Plattsburgh, and two people who authorities believe are from the New York City area: Breonna Gaddy, 21, and Terrick C. Griffin, 20.

“The intelligence was that they were coming to Saranac Lake to sell drugs,” Reardon said. “We know from the parole officers that they planned on looking for an apartment here in town, and they planned to move the product from an apartment in the coming days.

“The Adirondacks in general are known for not having their own supply of narcotics, so it’s a lucrative market for people to come up from the city. What would cost $10,000 in the city goes for $30,000 up here. They can triple their money in a short amount of time.”

The tenant of the Shepard Avenue apartment knew Bombard but didn’t know he was coming with the other people and that they allegedly came here to sell drugs, Reardon said. The tenant was “more or less in tears when we were there, distraught,” Reardon added.

Gaddy, Griffin and Beebie were each charged with single counts of third-degree and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, both of which are felonies. Gaddy also faces a charge of second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor. They were arraigned and remanded to the Franklin County Jail in Malone on $20,000 cash bail or $40,000 bond.

Furnace was charged with fourth-degree conspiracy, a felony, and possession of a hypodermic instrument, a misdemeanor. He was arraigned and sent to jail on $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond.

Criminal possession charges are pending against Bombard, who Reardon said was taken into custody by parole officers on parole violation charges and transported to Clinton County pending a court appearance there.

Saranac Lake police Patrolman Leigh Wenske and Chief Charles Potthast Jr. were also involved in the operation, along with Tupper Lake police officer Jordan Nason, two state parole officers and the Border Patrol officer. An additional officer was brought in later to help process the crime scene, Reardon said.

Citing the increase in heroin overdoses across the North Country and around the state, Reardon said police wanted to act quickly to get these drugs off the street.

“There was a sense of urgency for us,” Reardon said. “It really is an epidemic up here. It’s not getting better; it’s getting worse.”