$4.1M and 3 Kilos of Heroin Seized in Multi-State Drug Trafficking Probe
Members of a narcotics drug trafficking organization were indicted Tuesday and $4.1 million and 3 Kilos of heroin were confiscated following an operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Dorado Task Force (EDTF) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Drug Enforcement Task Force (DETF).
Jorge Pizarro and co-defendants Nelson Dejesus and Miguel Angeles are charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First and Third Degrees. The defendants were arrested Saturday night, March 18 in the surrounding area of a self storage in Bronx, NY.
Early investigations revealed that Pizarro allegedly oversaw an interstate narcotics trafficking operation that transported large quantities of heroin from Texas for sale in New York City and Lawrence, Mass. The narcotics were hidden inside furniture that Pizarro stored inside a Self Storage unit leased under his name. Further investigations revealed that Pizarro also transported great quantities of money to pay for the narcotics from New York City back to Texas inside the same furniture.
“Using furniture that contained hidden compartments, these individuals ran a large interstate drug trafficking organization that flooded our streets with heroin,” said Angel M. Melendez, special agent in charge of HSI New York.
“The seizure of over $4 million dollars in US currency shows how lucrative the drug trade is but also severely hinders the drug traffickers who were supposed to receive it.”
Members of DETF Group T-31 established surveillance surrounding the storage unit and Pizarro. Special agents and officers learned that Pizarro and Dejesus moved furniture in and out of the storage unit monthly. Pizarro also frequently travelled between New York City and Lawrence, Mass.
“Drug traffickers hid in plain sight carting drug and money-laden furniture cross country,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt.
“This isn’t the first time drug traffickers have used ingenious methods to smuggle drugs, but it was a well-planned scheme.”
“The organization thought of every detail, from adding a tricycle to their stash of furniture in order to appear like a relocating family, to spraying the contents with repellant to ward off police K-9 units.
“By seizing this money, law enforcement has denied Mexican drug traffickers over $4 million of profit off their poison.”
At approximately 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 18, Pizarro moved several furniture pieces, including two wooden nightstands, into the storage unit. The Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor obtained a search warrant for the location.
That night, Pizarro, Dejesus and Angeles were observed returning to the Secure Self Storage in two vehicles, a black Dodge Caravan driven by Pizarro and a large U-Haul truck. The three defendants went in and out of the storage unit, loading multiple pieces of furniture into the U-Haul truck. HSI’s Special Response Team (SRT) members approached the storage unit and affected the arrest of three individuals.
The search warrant allowed them to recover three kilograms of heroin weighing more than six pounds from one nightstand and approximately $750,000 cash from a second wooden nightstand. Inside the U-Haul truck, special agents and officers found furniture that contained about $3.4 million dollars in cash wrapped in dozens of packages.
The Dodge Caravan contained an empty compartment in the floor and a bottle of fox urine, used to mask the smell of narcotics. Law enforcement uncovered that the U-Haul had been rented in Lawrence, Mass. by an individual who has not been detained and is also the owner of the Dodge Caravan.
HSI’s El Dorado Task Force Group 3 is comprised of special agents and officers with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the DEA, the NYPD, the New York State Police, the Fort Lee, N.J. Police Department, the Suffolk County Sherriff’s Office, the MTA Police, the Yonkers Police Department and the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor and Finance.
