NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Authorities seized 28 pounds of heroin, three guns, and ammunition from an apartment used as a drug stash house in the Bronx following a months-long investigation, officials said.
Two men were also taken into custody.
The heroin recovered carries a street value of approximately $4 million, police said.
“Gun violence and deadly drugs are claiming far too many lives in our city,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. “Taking guns and dangerous drugs off the street are top priorities.”
At approximately 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 4, officers with DEA’s Tactical Diversion Squad New York conducted a search at an apartment located at 5775 Mosholu Avenue in the North Riverdale neighborhood where 12 brick-shaped packages and one cylindrical package from a storage container in a bedroom closet were recovered.
A field test indicated the powdery substance inside the packages was heroin.
Agents also discovered a metal case inside the closet containing three guns, one of them loaded.
A money counter and over 200 cartridges of ammunition of various calibers were found in the bedroom.
A kilo press, used in the packaging of narcotics, was also found in the apartment, along with a small quantity of alleged cocaine and some cash, according to police.
Hours before the search, officers were conducting surveillance of a six-story residential building in the vicinity of 5775 Mosholu Avenue where Wilson Sanchez, 54, was observed carrying a bag and entered a 2021 Volkswagen Touareg SUV at approximately 3 p.m.
Officers recognized Sanchez and Hinguenbert Deleon, 36, who was already inside the vehicle from prior surveillance.
After Sanchez and Deleon eluded arrest, but surveillance continued and officials placed the two men under arrest when they returned to the area shortly after 6 p.m.
A DEA agent recovered a set of keys from Deleon and discovered that they fit the lock of 5775 Mosholu Avenue, Apartment 3E.
Sanchez and Deleon were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court over the weekend.
They both face several charges including criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of a firearm.
The results of DEA Laboratory analysis on the narcotics in this case are pending.
“Illegal drugs continue to threaten lives at record pace,” stated DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan. “As guns are continually recovered in our investigations, it is evidently clear that gun violence and drug trafficking are two public safety threats that go hand in hand.”