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Police confirm 4 arrests in Hoffman's death

New York  - US police investigating the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from an apparent drugs overdose arrested three men and a woman with a large amount of heroin, police said Wednesday.

The three men aged 22, 48 and 57, and the woman, 22, were all detained on drug-related charges, a police spokesman told AFP.

"A large amount" of heroin was found in their possession in southern Manhattan, he said.

Hoffman died on Sunday in an apparent heroin overdose, with a needle found stuck in his arm. Around 50 envelopes of heroin, syringes and other pills littered the apartment.

According to US media, police said heroin found in Hoffman's apartment did not contain fentanyl, a powerful additive that has been tied to 22 recent fatal overdoses in Pennsylvania.

The results of an autopsy to determine a definitive cause of death have not yet been made public.

The celebrated 46-year-old actor, who had three children, was hailed by many as the finest character actor of his generation.

Police said he was found on the bathroom floor, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, in the apartment he rented at 53 Bethune Street in the West Village.

Hoffman had admitted in May to falling off the wagon more than a year previously, after two decades of sobriety, starting with prescription pills and escalating to snorting heroin.

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