LONG ISLAND CITY, Queens (WABC) — More than 580 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $10 million was seized from a Long Island City storage facility after a months-long investigation into what authorities say was a major drug trafficking operation involving suspected middlemen for an international drug cartel.
The investigation led to the arrest of 35-year-old Nelson Salcedo of Englewood, New Jersey, who was allegedly caught loading boxes of cocaine into a van at a self-storage facility in Queens. Police say the seizure prevented more than a quarter of a metric ton of cocaine from entering an illegal distribution network.
“Think about the scale of what was intercepted here. More than a quarter of a metric ton of cocaine sitting in boxes and ready to move through an illegal distribution network,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
According to investigators, officers found approximately 266 one-kilogram packages of cocaine during the bust. The drugs were discovered in boxes inside and outside a gray Nissan van at the storage facility.
Authorities believe the narcotics were routinely transported from the warehouse to the northern end of Central Park under the cover of darkness. Undercover officers allegedly observed Salcedo handing off boxes believed to contain cocaine to another suspect, who remains at large. Two additional men have also been arrested in connection with the alleged scheme.
Read More
https://abc7ny.com/post/nypd-seizes-10m-cocaine-alleged-cartel-linked-operation-queens/19753045/
