920 Kilograms Of Cocaine Seized From Lawn Equipment En Route To New York
Published
The DEA has seized 920kg (2,028 pounds) of cocaine that was allegedly being shipped to a Bronx address in New York City from Puerto Rico.
In what has been described as the largest cocaine bust in the region in more than a decade, officials were reportedly able to intercept the drugs as they were being transported in the back of a rented van on September 29 this year, stored inside 10 large metal lawn rollers.
An individual familiar with the case believed the haul may have a street value of between $37 million and $370 million, retail level depending.
In an indictment filed Monday, November 1, federal prosecutors accused three men – Jorge Aponte-Guzman, 33, Nelson Agramonte-Minaya, 37, and Carlos Maisonet-Lopez, 32 – of conspiring to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. This charge, which carries mandatory minimum sentences of ten years, could see the suspects facing potential maximum sentences of life in prison, Reuters reports.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan said:
A multimillion-dollar storm of cocaine was seized before it could wreak havoc in the Northeast. Over one ton of cocaine was seized, making it the largest cocaine seizure destined for the streets of New York in over a decade.
This seizure signifies a shift in the illegal drug landscape in New York, with cocaine seizures rising more than 150% in the last year. DEA and our law enforcement partners will continue to guard against drug trafficking organizations’ tactics and techniques to smuggle drugs into our country.
US Attorney Damian Williams said a ‘massive quantity of dangerous drugs has been kept off the streets’ thanks to those involved in the investigation.
Meanwhile, Westchester County Police Commissioner Thomas A. Gleason has praised ‘the tremendous work and dedication of the DEA and Task Force Investigators’ in preventing ‘approximately one ton of dangerous, illegal narcotics from being distributed on the streets of our area’.
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Credits
United States Department of Justice and 1 otherUnited States Department of Justice
Reuters
U.S. seizes more than one ton of cocaine in biggest NY-area bust in a decade
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