NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Bronx man was arraigned Monday night on charges alleging he ran a narcotics packaging mill out of a Harlem apartment where over five pounds of powdered drugs and thousands of pills were recovered by investigators, New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan announced.
“Successful collaboration with our law enforcement partners prevented thousands of dangerous pills and potentially lethal doses of packaged drugs from reaching our streets and identified a Manhattan drug stash location in close proximity to a school and children’s recreational center,” Brennan said.
Edwin Navarro, 46, was hit with multiple drug and weapons charges after his arrest on Jan. 31 in New Jersey. State troopers stopped his black Honda Pilot SUV at about 10:30 a.m. on Route 80 in Totowa, and a Trenton Police K-9 Unit alerted police to narcotics in the vehicle.
A court-authorized search of the car led to the discovery of a hidden trap in the center console containing a .32-caliber handgun and drug residue, officials said.
Earlier that morning, law enforcement were conducting surveillance near a suspected drug stash location at 50 Morningside Ave. in Harlem, located across the street from a K-8 school and around the corner from the South Harlem Police Athletic League Center, which offers community programming for children. Agents and investigators saw Navarro leave the building in the morning, and after his arrest they conducted a court-authorized search on apartment 6E, assisted by NYPD officers.
The apartment was empty of furnishings and appeared to only serve as a place to package and store drugs. Officials recovered a brick-shaped sealed package of cocaine with a “Rolex” label on top, and additional quantities of narcotics in plastic bags, twists and hundreds of filled glassine envelopes and capsules were also found.
A hidden safe in the bedroom contained large bags of heroin/fentanyl drug mixtures, cocaine, about 220 filled glassine envelopes, 2,000 methamphetamine pills, over 50 tramadol pills and a 9mm pistol with a silencer and ammunition.
Prosecutors said that the apartment contained “all the necessary equipment for packaging and distributing drugs.” Investigators also recovered $6,900 in cash.
“The seizure of fake and poisonous pills, cocaine, a powered mixture of heroin, fentanyl, and xylazine, as well as two firearms, shows the extent and threat Edwin Navarro poised to the community, as well as the health risk to those he distributed to,” DEA New Jersey Field Division Special Agent in Charge Cheryl Ortiz said, “Whenever fentanyl and xylazine are mixed into the distribution chain, the results can be deadly.”
Navarro waived extradition from New Jersey on Feb. 12 and was transported for arraignment by NYPD members late Monday. He was held on bail set at $200,000 cash or $600,000 bond.
“There is zero tolerance for those who flood our streets with fentanyl and other illegal narcotics and guns,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “This arrest sends a clear message that we will never hesitate to go after those who put our communities in danger.”