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250 pounds of drugs, estimated at $24 million, found during Bronx apartment raid: Prosecutors
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Jun 29, 2022
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Special Narcotics Prosecutor
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Jun 29, 2022
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A raid of a Bronx apartment found 250 pounds of fentanyl, cocaine and other drugs worth an estimated $24 million, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The drugs recovered included 110 kilograms of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine, in addition to 50 pounds of what is believed to be crystal meth, and tens of thousands of counterfeit pills “allegedly intended for citywide distribution,” according to authorities.
“It appears that this apartment served as the Amazon warehouse for lethal drugs in New York City and surrounding regions,” New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said in a prepared statement. “While this case is consistent with the trend towards high-level traffickers selling many different drug types, it is highly unusual to find such large
amounts concentrated in one location.”
During a court-authorized search of the apartment in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx at 6:55 p.m. on Monday, members of a DEA task force encountered Julio Mota Plasencia, who ran to the back of the apartment, prosecutors said. He was then arrested, and the apartment was searched.
During the raid, officials allegedly found drugs all over the apartment. There was a red cooler in the living room containing 26 kilograms of cocaine, a gym bag in a closet with 50,000 to 75,000 counterfeit pills inside, and a hamper in a hallway with three kilograms of cocaine, according to the prosecutors’ statement.
Officers also found evidence of multiple aliases, a drug ledger with Mota Plasencia’s name and multiple drug amounts, and multiple forms of identification with his picture and different names.
“After apprehending him the agents and officers conducted a thorough search of the apartment and found large amounts of drugs and paraphernalia in every room except the bathroom,” Brennan said at a press conference about the raid.
Mota Plasencia, 39, is charged with counts of Operating as a Major Trafficker and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First and Third Degrees and is being held without bail.
Attorney information for the suspect was not immediately available.
“This seizure illustrates what we are up against in the Bronx with traffickers bringing vast amounts of poisonous drugs that devastate communities here and in the metropolitan area,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said in a statement. “It is particularly disturbing that there was such a variety of dangerous drugs; fentanyl and crystal meth are especially destructive to people’s health. We will continue to work with local, state, and federal partners to target these traffickers and get these deadly drugs off our streets.
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