Groton — Town Police Sgt. Nick Parham, working Monday morning out of the hatchback of an unmarked SUV parked in the driveway of an industrial property on South Road, pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and dipped a pocket knife into a bag of beige powder.  

Parham, supervisor of the Regional Community Enhancement Task Force, transferred the powder from the tip of the knife blade into a plastic container from a narcotics field testing kit and shook it up. The clear liquid reagent turned red, then purple.

"That's positive for fentanyl and heroin," he said.

The task force, made up of area police departments along with state parole and probation officers, went to 114 South Road with a search warrant shortly after 9 a.m. and arrested Jose Davila, 31, of 300 Branford Ave., one of two men they say operated a mid-to-high-level drug dealing operation and a vehicle wholesaling operation called U.S. Wholesalers out of the leased property. The site, formerly the location of a trucking company, is surrounded by single-family homes.

Parham said they found Davila — and 5.5 ounces of heroin — in one of three campers parked next to a mint green garage. Based on the results of the field test, it appears the heroin was laced with fentanyl, the powerful opiate that Chief Medical Examiner James Gill said last week could result in 332 overdose deaths in Connecticut this year, a 75 percent increase over 2015.

Parham said almost all of the heroin the task force has seized since it formed in February has tested positive for fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate.  

The investigators had been watching the South Road property for months and were able to make several drug purchases there before obtaining the search-and-seizure warrant, according to Parham. The case was developed through a collaborative effort after information was developed in Waterford in an unrelated case, according to town police detective Lt. John W. Varone.

On Monday morning, the police made sure that one of the two "targets" was on site when they served the warrant. Parham said Davila was likely engaged in packaging the heroin for sale when the cops arrived. Unlike in a home, which is the more common location of a drug raid, there is no place to flush the drugs in a camper, since everything from the toilet goes into a holding tank.

The task force members were still weighing and cataloging the drugs Monday afternoon, but Parham said they had counted, so far, 155 grams of heroin with a street value of approximately $15,500.

At the scene late Monday morning, the officers continued a meticulous search of the garage, vehicles and outbuildings, with help from dogs from the East Lyme, Norwich and Waterford police departments. A member of the task force from the Stonington Police Department filled out an inventory sheet after seized items were placed on the hood of the SUV.

There were two knotted plastic baggies with tennis ball-sized quantities of the drug along with several smaller knotted baggies containing "eight balls," or 3.5 grams of heroin. Then there were the accessories of the heroin trade: plastic baggies, a scale and a bottle of Manitol, a white powder dietary supplement that is used as a cutting agent.

The task force also seized a semi-automatic handgun with an obliterated serial number.

Ledyard police, members of an FBI drug task force and members of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service also took part in the investigation. 

Though there was no cash, there were plenty of assets on the site — the three campers, a Bentley luxury sedan, a flatbed, a tractor unit, several ATVs, a Razor dune buggy, motorcycles and tools. The police can seize the property if they can show it was purchased with the proceeds from illegal drug sales.

Groton Town police Chief Louis J. Fusaro Jr. and Groton City Chief Thomas J. Davoren both stopped by the search site Monday morning, getting updates on the case and speaking to the officers.

The investigation, which began months ago, will continue for some time as the task force members deal with the inventory and work with the New London State's Attorney's Office to prepare the case for trial.

The police did not identify the second suspect, though Varone said his name was on the lease and task force members were questioning him Monday.

Davila was charged with possession of heroin, possession of heroin with intent to sell, possession of more than one ounce of heroin, criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and altering the serial number of a firearm.

Varone said Davila would be held in lieu of $500,000 bond, and if he is unable to post the bond, would be presented Tuesday for arraignment in New London Superior Court.

k.florin@theday.com