Five men arrested on multiple drug, weapons charges following investigation into Hartford narcotics operation

Five Hartford men were arrested on narcotics and weapons charges after police reportedly recovered 16 firearms and over 6,300 bags of fentanyl after executing multiple search warrants on Wednesday.

At the start of 2023, detectives from the Hartford Police Department’s Vice and Narcotics Division, along with the D.E.A. and F.B.I., began an investigation focusing on alleged drug dealers within the Sana (Sands) apartment complex at 1584 Main St. in Hartford, police said.

The investigation led to the execution of 11 search and seizure warrants at multiple locations on Wednesday, according to Hartford police.

The Hartford Police Violent Crimes Unit, C4 Division, Auto Theft Unit, Street Crimes Unit, North Community Service Officers, D.E.A, F.B.I, Connecticut State Police Narcotics Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations assisted in the searches that led to the reported seizure of 16 firearms, which including five ghost guns, three handguns equipped with “switches”, a .762 ghost rifle and a .22 caliber rifle with a 25-round magazine, Hartford police said.

Police also reportedly seized 6,363 bags of fentanyl, 140 grams of fentanyl, 119 grams of crack cocaine and one kilogram of cocaine.

Lamel Brooks, 34 of Hartford is facing 12 counts of criminal possession of a firearm, five counts of possession of a ghost gun, three counts of possession of a machine gun, possession of a high capacity magazine, two counts of theft of a firearm, possession of an assault weapon, possession of narcotics and possession of narcotics with intent to sell.

Wali Brooks, 35, also of Hartford, is charged with two counts of possession of narcotics and two counts of possession of narcotics with intent to sell and operating a drug factory.

Omar Vazquez-Garcia, 30, of Hartford, is charged with possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, interfering with a search warrant and possession of over one kilogram of narcotics.

Samuel Garcia, 37, of Hartford, is charged with interfering with a search warrant and possession of a high-capacity magazine, and Juwan Gratic, 24 of Hartford is charged with possession of narcotics and possession of narcotics with intent to sell.