Drug agents arrested a Brooklyn man on drug trafficking charges, and allege that when agents approached him on Elm Street in Biddeford, he dropped a bag containing 608 oxycodone pills and tried to walk away.

Agents with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency’s York County Task Force were conducting an investigation about 8 p.m. Tuesday when, unrelated to the investigation, they approached Pierre Dupera, 31, at the rear of the Hannaford supermarket at 299 Elm St. When the officers identified themselves, Dupera removed a bag from his pocket, dropped it on the ground and started walking away.

Police said they found that the bag contained $20,000 worth of the often-diverted prescription painkiller, highly sought by opiate addicts. Police arrested Dupera and seized $5,733 in suspected drug proceeds, police said.

Agents were parked in the parking lot of Hannaford when they saw Dupera walking along the rows of cars. He didn’t try the doors, but he didn’t seem to have a purpose, said MDEA Cmdr. Scott Pelletier.

When he eventually went into the store, the agents followed him. They saw him grab a basket and absently fill it with items, then set it down, he said.

At one point, he went to a register and bought a box of fish sticks, Pelletier said. After he made his purchase, he ran from the store. The officers caught up with him behind the store and identified themselves as police and said they wanted to talk to him.

That’s when Dupera dropped the baggie with the pills, walked a distance away and then turned and asked the officers what they wanted, Pelletier said.​

Dupera was taken to the York County Jail in Alfred, where he is being held on $50,000 bail pending an initial court appearance.


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