A street transaction observed by investigators ended with discovery of 56 bags of heroin and the arrest of the man allegedly selling the drug.

Monday, Investigators with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office drug unit arrested Quinton Baldwin, 37, of Trails End South, Washington, and charged him with possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine, manufacturing heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia. At the time of his arrest, Baldwin was on probation for similar charges, according to Capt. Russell Davenport, head of the drug unit.

Davenport said his office had gotten complaints about Baldwin and set out to investigate.

“We work those complaints and do surveillance and it paid off. We saw activity that was consistent with selling heroin. We saw him do a drug transaction, so we knew we were on the right trail,” Davenport said.

The alleged transaction took place on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Washington on Monday.

While the total amount of heroin found at Baldwin’s resident was about 5 1/2 grams — a street value of roughly $1,300 — with the weight including plastic packaging. Davenport said if the total amount of the drug on its own is over four grams, Baldwin could face heroin trafficking charges in the future.

The manufacture charge refers to the process of taking raw heroin, straining and cutting it with other agents, then placing in bags for resale.

According to Davenport, heroin has been on the rise in eastern North Carolina and the reason is due to abuse of opiate-based prescription pain medications.

“If they can’t get the opiates from the doctor, they go after heroin,” Davenport said. “That’s why we’ve seen such a rise in heroin and we try to attack it as aggressively as we can.”

Baldwin was detained at the Beaufort County Detention Center under a $300,000 secured bond.