Police: 15 Arrested in Heroin Distribution Ring Bust in Mass.

Authorities say 15 people were arrested after a heroin-distribution ring in Massachusetts was broken up by police detectives.

Taunton police say the 15 men and woman from six southeastern Massachusetts cities and towns were arrested Tuesday morning on drug-related charges.

Twelve are facing federal drugs charges and were arraigned in federal court in Boston.

The Taunton Daily Gazette reports that the arrests result from an investigation that focused on a Taunton man and his mother.

Prosecutors say they have been running a "retail heroin trafficking organization" out of the mother's apartment.

Agents with the Drug Enforcement Agency executed a search of two apartments and say they found a total of 257 grams of heroin and 3 grams of cocaine. Six others were arrested.