NEW YORK (AP/FOX5NY) - Federal and local authorities arrested three people in connection with an alleged drug trafficking operation that originated in Texas and sent drugs to New York City and Massachusetts. Law enforcement seized $4.1 million cash and over six pounds of heroin found in a storage unit in the Bronx and a rental truck.
New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said the drugs and cash were hidden inside wooden furniture. The heroin would come north in the furniture and then the money to pay for the drugs was hidden in the same furniture and shipped back to Texas, Brennan said.
"This investigation demonstrates how lucrative and highly organized the lethal narcotics trade has become. With this seizure, we intercepted not only three kilograms of heroin, but over $4.1 million dollars that likely would have been used to purchase another 65 kilograms," Brennan said in a statement. "The potential toll on human lives represented by this amount of drug money, carefully packaged and hidden in hydraulic compartments for interstate traffickers, cannot be measured."
Authorities charged Jorge Pizarro, Nelson Dejesus, and Miguel Angeles with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees. There were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court and held on bail.