Dual heroin investigations have broken up two rings in New Jersey and led to the arrest of 36 people.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office says it started the investigations in December and announced the culmination of the operations Wednesday.

Prosecutors say the networks were responsible for importing more than two pounds of heroin a week into Ocean County. That equals about 50,000 doses of the drug.

The first investigation culminated when authorities arrested the leader of a ring that distributed heroin in Atlantic and Ocean counties. They pulled him over as he returned from Philadelphia with raw heroin and materials used to convert it into doses.

Authorities nabbed the leaders of the second network at a Union County mall where they were trying to buy heroin.

Several local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies assisted the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in the two operations.