DEA Seizes Over 920 Kilos of Cocaine Stashed in Lawn Equipment Headed for NYC

Over 920 kilos of cocaine was en route to a Bronx address In New York City when it was intercepted and seized by US law enforcement.

As reported by Reuters on Tuesday, DEA officials reportedly intercepted the drugs—which were stored in large metal lawn rollers in the back of a rental van— as they were en route from a New Jersey loading dock to a Bronx residence. The driver of the van, Jorge Aponte-Guzman, is one of three men facing charges of drug trafficking conspiracy in relation to the cocaine, according to a federal indictment filed on Monday. The other two men named in the indictment were Nelson Agramonte-Minaya and Carlos Maisonet-Lopez.

“A multimillion-dollar storm of cocaine was seized before it could wreak havoc in the Northeast,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan wrote in a statement. “This seizure signifies a shift in the illegal drug landscape in New York with cocaine seizures rising more than 150% in the last year.”

The 920 kilograms of cocaine, which were apparently sent from Puerto Rico, could have raked in anywhere between $37 million and $370 million, depending on how the drugs were marketed and sold. 

“A seizure of this magnitude underscores the critical importance of working together with our federal and local law enforcement partners in the DEA Westchester Task Force,” wrote Westchester County Police Commissioner Thomas A. Gleason in a press release. “The tremendous work and dedication of the DEA and Task Force Investigators has interrupted a major drug distribution operation and prevented approximately one ton of dangerous, illegal narcotics from being distributed on the streets of our area.” 

The three suspects were each charged with conspiring to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine, a charge that carries a potential sentence of life in prison and a  mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.