Wyckoff police say a local teen had more than $300 prescription pills on him when they arrested him in an alleged drug deal.Getty Images 

WYCKOFF — A drug deal on the premises of a local elementary school led to the arrest of a 16-year-old boy who was allegedly selling Oxycodone to his peers, police said.

Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox said Monday that patrolman Kyle Ferreira spotted two boys on the field of the Sicomac Elementary School during the evening hours, and watching them from afar.

"He then observed them exchange something by hand that appeared to be a drug transaction," Fox said in a statement.

When the patrolman approached, the two boys ran off in opposite directions, but he was able to apprehend one of them, a 16 year old boy whom police did not identify because he is a minor.

Fox said the boy had 315 Oxycodone pills, ranging in dosage amounts from 5 to 80 milligrams, with "a street market value of about $10,000."

Police charged the boy with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession on school property, and he was released to his parents pending a hearing in juvenile court.

Authorities in northern New Jersey, led by county prosecutors, have been cracking down on the sale of heroin and prescription pills in response to an uptick in overdoses in the region.

"Addiction to this drug is at an all time high, and addicts will stop at nothing to get what they need," Fox said in a statement. "The fact that a 16 year old boy is in possession of such a high quantity of the drug further demonstrates the market that there is to obtain these pills."