A drug-packaging mill churning out millions of dollars of heroin and fentanyl across the street from an elementary school and near the Bronx Zoo was just busted up, authorities said Monday.
Six people were arrested on the apartment building’s fire escape trying to evade capture, while more than $5 million of the illicit drugs was seized, officials said.
Federal agencies led by the Drug Enforcement Administration conducted the operation Thursday, breaking up a network funneling drugs into New York and Massachusetts.
“Traffickers are brazenly embedding themselves in our communities and we will not tolerate it. We will keep working to stop them from using the Bronx as a hub for narcotics distribution,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
As officers descended on the mill across from PS 57 on Thursday evening, they noticed a half-dozen people climbing up a fire escape headed toward the roof, where officers had already been stationed.
Federal authorities busted a drug-packaging mill in the Bronx that was across the street from an elementary school. Special Narcotics Prosecutor
Six people were arrested in the bust and $5 million worth of fentanyl and heroin were seized. Special Narcotics Prosecutor
The drug-packaging mill producing heroin and fentanyl is across the street from an elementary school. Google StreetThe men — Randy Ledesma, Alexis Rosario Sabrino, Jose Mora, Darwin Taveras Santos, Miguel Then Serverino and Dayton Taveras — then reversed direction and headed down for the street before being caught between the second and fourth floors on the fire escape, according to the DEA.
The men were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court over the weekend, the DEA said. They were each charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree along with additional charges.
Inside the mill, police found a suitcase with around 300,000 glassine envelopes filled with heroin and fentanyl, along with 200,000 glassines in the living room and 7,000 in a closet. Pictures from the scene show glassine envelopes scattered across the floor of the apartment.
Stamps used by the alleged drug traffickers. Special Narcotics ProsecutorThe DEA said the men were connected to a recent bust in Massachusetts, where officers found 5,000 glassines of heroin and fentanyl stamped with “Yeezy” during a vehicle stop.
NYPD Commissioner Sewell said in a statement Monday that the department’s “fight to rid our community of illegal drugs is unrelenting.
“The criminals who peddle them prey on some of our city’s most vulnerable people, and the NYPD will make every effort to hold them accountable.”
