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Latin Kings Turned Car Airbags Into Drug Compartments
By
Ben Muessig
Published Jan 13, 2010
Modified Jan 13, 2010
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Jan 13, 2010
Modified Jan 13, 2010
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Police arrested seven members of the Latin Kings gang accused of stashing heroin and cocaine in the airbag compartments of their cars while they smuggled the drugs into Brooklyn. Before driving across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the suspects purportedly hid the narcotics in "hydraulic trapdoors that were rigged to open when the driver pushed a series of buttons on the dashboard panel in a set order," the Staten Island Advance reports. After an 18-month investigation — which involved undercover drug drug purchases and electronic and visual surveillance — prosecutors alleged that 27-year-old ringleader Jose Arroyave repeatedly sold glassine bags of heroin and $4,000 of cocaine to an informant. An additional suspect has reportedly fled to Puerto Rico.
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arrest
bust
drug smuggling
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gang
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jose arroyave
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narcotics
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