An enormous drug bust in Queens is one thing the NYPD mentioned hasn’t been seen in at the least a decade.
A New Jersey man was arrested after greater than 580 kilos of cocaine was seized outdoors a Lengthy Island Metropolis self-storage facility, regulation enforcement mentioned. The medicine had an estimate road worth of greater than $10 million.
“That is a gigantic amount of narcotics that may by no means be damaged down, that may by no means be packaged, offered, or distributed in our neighborhoods,” mentioned NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who famous that the bust was the results of an investigation into high-level cocaine trafficking in New York and New Jersey.
The DEA, New Jersey State Police and the Particular Narcotics Prosecutors Workplace all labored with the NYPD to take down 35-year-old Nelson Salcedo, of Englewood, New Jersey.
“It was old school technical work, lengthy hours of surveillance, following topics and autos, creating intelligence, and staying with the case till investigators have been ready to behave,” Tisch mentioned.
“This seems to be the biggest single cache of cocaine my workplace has seized in 20 years,” mentioned Particular Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan. “Cocaine trafficking has triggered important harm to our metropolis and continues to assert lives, particularly when combined with fentanyl and offered to unwitting consumers. Actually, it’s current in additional than half of all overdose deaths in New York Metropolis.”
Regulation enforcement mentioned they watched Salcedo over the course of two weeks ship weighted cardboard bins within the neighborhood of the northern finish of Central Park. One other unidentified individual was seen doing the identical on Wednesdays.
Brokers and officers finally tracked Salcedo to the self-storage facility on Northern Boulevard, the place they allegedly watched him load a number of bins from the ability right into a Nissan van. In the course of the search, 19 bins containing greater than 266 kilograms of cocaine have been present in and across the van, the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.
As soon as distributed, regulation enforcement mentioned the cocaine was prone to be minimize as many as 3 times with harmful medicine like fentanyl.
“The seizure of greater than 580 kilos of cocaine is a major disruption to the prison organizations answerable for distributing harmful medicine all through our communities,” mentioned DEA New Jersey Area Division Particular Agent in Cost Towanda R. Thorne-James. “This investigation demonstrates the effectiveness of the sturdy partnerships between federal, state, and native regulation enforcement businesses and our shared dedication to figuring out and dismantling high-level drug trafficking organizations.”
Nelson was charged with first- and third-degree prison possession of a managed substance. Legal professional data for him was not instantly out there.
As for the joint investigation, it’s removed from over. Authorities mentioned they count on extra drug seizures and extra folks taken into police custody because the investigation strikes ahead.
