Fifteen people at an Essex bar were arrested Thursday night in a drug raid that netted more than $11,000 in suspected cocaine and cash, Baltimore County police said yesterday.

The arrests represent the end of a five-month investigation into a bar in the 500 block of S. Marlyn Ave., known as Mother's Place, said Sgt. Harry Ricketts. Police arrested 12 suspected dealers and three alleged customers about 6 p.m.

Ricketts said the ring had operated out of the bar for about a year, selling cocaine for $10 to $50 a bag.

"It was close-knit. They weren't selling to [just] anybody," Ricketts said. "You had to work into it to buy from them."

Acting on neighbors' complaints about suspected drug activity in the bar, police began an undercover investigation in February.

On Thursday, police found more than 85 bags of suspected cocaine -- worth more than $6,000 -- prepared for sale. They also found more than $5,000, as well as Valium and suspected marijuana, Ricketts said.

Pub Date: 7/04/98