NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Three New Jersey men have been indicted for allegedly trafficking over 2,000 lbs. of cocaine that officials said was headed for New York.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan said the “multimillion-dollar storm of cocaine” seizure was the largest of its kind in over a decade.
“This seizure signifies a shift in the illegal drug landscape in New York, with cocaine seizures rising more than 150% in the last year,” said Donovan. “DEA and our law enforcement partners will continue to guard against drug trafficking organizations’ tactics and techniques to smuggle drugs into our country.”
Officials said on Sept. 29, Jorge Aponte-Guzman traveled in a rental van from a loading dock in New Jersey to an abandoned lot near a residence, where he was met by Nelson Agramonte-Minaya and Carlos Maisonet-Lopez.
Law enforcement moved in on the rental van, where they allegedly found and seized about 460 kilograms of cocaine package inside 10 large metal lawn rollers, according to the indictment.
According to officials, records showed the lawn rollers were shipped from Puerto Rico to New Jersey, with a consignee in the Bronx.
The next day, officials said DEA agents sized a similar shipment of 10 large metal lawn rollers from the same New Jersey loading dock, where another 460 kilograms of cocaine were seized.
Aponte-Guzman, 33, Agramonte-Minaya, 37, and Maisonet-Lopez, 32, have been charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine.
The charge carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, and has a max sentence of life in prison.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said the investigation included help from the Westchester Department of Public Safety as well as Port Authority, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and White Plains police.