According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), federal, state, and local police enforcement dismantled a major drug packaging enterprise in the Bronx, seizing more than 13 pounds of drugs such as fentanyl, heroin, xylazine, methamphetamine, and cocaine.
The medicines have an estimated street worth of more than $2 million. The DEA said.
On November 6, 2024, the DEA, New York Police Department, and New York State Police conducted a search at The Richard Rogers School, a 20-story residential building across from PS 96, according to the DEA.
Inside the residence, agents found 17 huge bags of suspected drugs, including three pounds of xylazine mixed with coffee. The DEA said.
The Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office identified Joseph Martinez, 32, as the suspected operation’s commander, while Juancito Rivera, 34, and Josue Pichardo, 27, were also present during the search.
As agents approached the flat, the DEA claimed that bags of narcotics were hurled from a ninth-floor window. Officials said that ten bags were discovered on the ground and seven more on balconies below.
According to the DEA, laboratory tests verified that the bags included fentanyl, heroin, xylazine, methamphetamine, and cocaine.
An indictment filed in Manhattan Supreme Court was unsealed during arraignments on December 5, charging Martinez, Rivera, and Pichardo with first, second, and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled narcotic, according to the DEA.
“It is profoundly alarming that an illegal narcotics packaging mill operated across the street from a public school, dealing with highly toxic chemicals such as fentanyl and xylazine, as well as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. Darcel D. Clark, Bronx District Attorney, reported that thirteen pounds of these narcotics had been recovered.
“Xylazine was involved in more than a quarter of fatal overdoses in the city in 2023; opioid overdose reversal drugs are not effective on it, making it even more dangerous.”