NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Port Authority police dog helped sniff out nearly 25 pounds of cocaine stashed inside a “secret compartment” behind the medicine cabinet of a Bronx apartment during a drug bust, authorities said.
Cesar Chavez, 51, Cristian Rodriguez, 32, and Roberto Javier-Batista, 38, were arrested on Sept. 3 as part of an investigation into a drug trafficking operation based out of an apartment in Morris Heights, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday.
Balu, a Port Authority Police Department K-9, played a key role in the investigation, the DEA said.
New York State Police and DEA investigators started surveilling the apartment on Popham Avenue in the weeks leading up to Sept. 3, according to the DEA.
Chavez went in and out of the apartment building often during those weeks, the agency said. On Sept. 3, investigators saw him leaving the building with Javier-Batista carrying a brick-shaped package wrapped in plastic. The two got into a car and started driving, the DEA said.
State police tried to stop the car, but Javier-Batista fled the vehicle with the package, and Chavez managed to drive off, the agency said.
Later that day, investigators spotted Chavez leave the apartment and get into a car driven by his nephew, Rodriguez, the DEA said. Javier-Batista joined them not long after, carrying the same brick-shaped package Chavez had been carrying earlier, according to the agency.
At that point, investigators stopped the car and confiscated the package, which contained a kilogram of cocaine, the agency said.
When investigators searched the apartment, they found a half-kilogram of cocaine underneath a chair in the living room and nearly $125,000 in cash inside a backpack in a bedroom, according to the DEA.
Port Authority Police Department K-9 Balu, meanwhile, helped agents find 11 kilograms of cocaine and another pile of cash inside a hidden compartment behind the medicine cabinet in the apartment’s bathroom, the agency said.
The cocaine packages were stamped with images of a Chinese dragon, the DEA said. Investigators also found more than 100 pills and a “makeshift pill press” inside the apartment, according to the agency.
Chavez has been charged with operating as a major trafficker, as well as with first- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, the agency said.
Cristian Rodriguez and Roberto Javier-Batista have been charged with first- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, the DEA said.
Attorney information for the three men wasn’t immediately available Thursday.
“As traffickers navigate COVID-impacted drug markets, their drug stashes are more valuable and their concealment methods more necessary, as evident in this investigation,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan said in a statement.
“I applaud our law enforcement partners on their diligent work and their efforts in safeguarding our nation from the perils of drug use and abuse,” he added.