The New York Police Department (NYPD) has seized roughly 580 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $10 million in Queens, disrupting what authorities describe as the department’s largest cocaine bust in at least a decade.
Tisch, along with other officials, stood behind a long table of the confiscated items to demonstrate the scale of the operation.
"Think about the scale of what was intercepted here. More than a quarter of a metric ton of cocaine sitting in boxes, and ready to move through an illegal distribution network," she said.
The months-long investigation first began in June through a partnership with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Manhattan, according to Tisch. Throughout its investigation, law enforcement tracked the movements of people associated with the alleged network and discovered a drug trafficking operation that crossed state lines.
Authorities ultimately arrested 35-year-old Nelson Salcedo of Englewood, New Jersey, on Aug. 26 after investigators allegedly caught him loading cardboard boxes of cocaine into a van at a Long Island City storage facility.
A K-9 had alerted officers to the presence of narcotics in the van, according to Tisch. Investigators then secured the vehicle and obtained a search warrant before investigating the vehicle.
Authorities say the drugs were being moved from Queens to locations in Manhattan and New Jersey, with some shipments allegedly destined for areas near Central Park.
Michael Baldassano, the Assistant Chief of the NYPD’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau, pointed out that the purity of the cocaine significantly increased its potential street value and danger. The narcotics would likely have been mixed with other harmful substances, including fentanyl, before being sold on the streets, meaning increased risk of fatal overdoses, according to Baldassano.
In total, officials said, law enforcement confiscated approximately 266 one-kilogram packages of cocaine during the bust.
Authorities believe the drugs were typically transported from a warehouse to the northern end of Central Park.
“That is an enormous quantity of narcotics that will never be broken down, that will never be packaged, sold, or distributed into our neighborhoods,” Tisch added.
Salcedo faces felony drug possession charges.
Meanwhile, two additional suspects have been arrested in connection to the scheme, while a third suspect allegedly involved in the alleged network still remains at large.
Authorities said they are working to identify all the suspects as they further dismantle the broader, drug-trafficking operation.