A court-authorized search of an apartment in the Mount Hope neighborhood of The Bronx resulted in the seizure of approximately 110 kilograms of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, plus 50 pounds of a substance believed to be crystal meth, and up to 75,000 counterfeit pills believed to contain fentanyl, according to the City’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor (SNP).

 

The drugs, which law enforcement officials said were intended for citywide distribution, carry an estimated street value of approximately $24 million. Julio Mota Plasencia was arrested in the stash apartment in which the drug consignment was allegedly located on Monday, June 27, and is charged with operating as a major trafficker.

 

Bridget G. Brennan, New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Frank A. Tarentino III, special-agent-in-charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York division, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark, Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell, Ricky J. Patel, acting special-agent-in-charge at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York, and State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen announced the seizure and arrest following the arraignment of Mota Plasencia at Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday, June 28, where he was ordered held without bail.

 

Mota Plasencia was arrested on the evening of June 27, inside 112 Henwood Place, Apt. 3D in the Mt. Hope section of The Bronx. He was charged with operating as a major trafficker and with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees.

 

According to the investigation, law enforcement obtained a court-authorized search warrant for 112 Henwood Place, Apt. 3D. Officials said upon entering the apartment at about 6:55 p.m. on June 27, agents and officers allegedly observed Mota Plasencia run to the rear of the third-floor apartment. They pursued him and allegedly found him standing on a windowsill in the bedroom. An open duffle bag that allegedly contained approximately 20 kilograms of narcotics was nearby.

 

Officials said a thorough search of the apartment allegedly revealed drugs present throughout. Inside one closet near the entrance to the apartment, agents and officers allegedly found a gym bag with 50,000 to 75,000 counterfeit pills that were blue in color and stamped “M-30,” mimicking a commonly abused form of oxycodone. The pills are believed to contain fentanyl.

 

They said a second closet allegedly held two duffle bags containing 30 to 40 kilograms of narcotics and three ziplock bags of heroin, two of which were allegedly labelled “Cartel” and “Goma.” They said inside the closet there were also allegedly four boxes containing 80 rounds of rifle ammunition that could also be used in certain handguns.

Inside the living room, agents and officers allegedly recovered a red cooler containing around 26 kilograms of cocaine, and a duffle bag containing cylindrical packages wrapped in plastic that are believed to have contained crystal meth. Also allegedly found in the living room was a cardboard box with miscellaneous car parts and a kilogram of cocaine.

 

Officials said a hamper allegedly found in a hallway outside the bedroom contained around three kilograms of cocaine. On the kitchen counter, there were allegedly two kilograms of cocaine that had been opened up, as if being prepared for packaging.

 

Some kilogram packages were allegedly labeled with various names, such as Toyota and Audi with an image of a Dockers logo. Law enforcement officials said the drugs seized will be submitted for DEA laboratory analysis.

 

Officials said drug paraphernalia was also allegedly recovered from various places in the apartment. A suitcase allegedly contained a kilo press used in packaging wholesale quantities of narcotics. A duffle bag allegedly contained plates for the kilo press. Other items allegedly recovered included scales, plastic gloves and other packaging materials.

 

They said a drug ledger allegedly contained Mota Plasencia’s name and multiple dollar amounts. Agents and officers also allegedly seized evidence of multiple aliases. Multiple forms of identification allegedly bore his picture and different names, including a driver’s license from the Dominican Republic.

 

The investigation was conducted by the DEA’s New York organized crime drug enforcement strike force. The effort is part of an organized crime drug enforcement task forces (OCDETF) operation. According to the SNP, “OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.”

 

The New York OCDETF strike force is housed at the DEA’s New York division and includes agents and officers of the DEA; the NYPD; the New York State Police; Homeland Security Investigations; the U.S. IRS criminal investigation division; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the U.S. Marshals Service; New York National Guard; U.S. Coast Guard; Port Washington Police Department; and New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

 

In the context of the announcement, Brennan thanked Clark and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, and commended the SNP’s special investigations bureau, and the New York organized crime drug enforcement strike force, including the DEA; the NYPD; the New York State Police; Homeland Security Investigations; the U.S. IRS criminal investigation division; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the U.S. Marshals Service; New York National Guard; U.S. Coast Guard; Port Washington Police Department; and the State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

 

“It appears that this apartment served as the Amazon warehouse for lethal drugs in New York City and surrounding regions,” said Brennan. “While this case is consistent with the trend towards high-level traffickers selling many different drug types, it is highly unusual to find such large amounts concentrated in one location.”

 

For his part, Tarentino said data doesn’t lie. “New York is under siege by criminal drug networks flooding our city streets with fentanyl, killing people at record rates,” he said. “This significant seizure proves that today’s traffickers have all the ingredients to make toxic cocktails for retail sales, deliberately blinding the users of what they are really getting.”

 

He added, “Through great teamwork among the New York Strike Force and NYC Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, we have taken $24 million worth of deadly drugs off our streets.”

 

Clark said the seizure illustrated what law enforcement were up against in The Bronx, with traffickers bringing vast amounts of what she called poisonous drugs that devastate the borough’s communities and wider metropolitan area. “It is particularly disturbing that there was such a variety of dangerous drugs; fentanyl and crystal meth are especially destructive to people’s health,” she said.

 

“We will continue to work with local, State, and federal partners to target these traffickers and get these deadly drugs off our streets. I thank Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan and Frank A. Tarentino III, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA, for their partnership, as well as HSI, New York, NYPD and the New York State Police.”

 

Meanwhile, Sewell described the intercepted drug consignment as “poison – period.” She said such drugs are peddled for profit by criminals who she said prey on some of the most vulnerable communities in New York City, and that the case demonstrated it was behavior that can never be tolerated.

 

“The work of our NYPD investigators, together with the City’s special narcotics prosecutor, the DEA, and all of our law enforcement partners has shut down a depraved, drug-dealing operation in this case, and I want to thank all of our investigators for their outstanding in doing so,” she said.

 

For his part, Patel said as New York City continues to see a record number of drug-related overdoses, with the majority related to fentanyl, a seizure of this magnitude would inevitably save countless lives.

 

He added that it served as an example of what law enforcement could accomplish when pooling together personnel and resources towards what he said was the common goal of eradicating illegal narcotics that devastate communities. “HSI is committed to continuing to work hand-in-hand with our state, local and federal partners to put a stop to drug trafficking in our communities,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, Bruen said he was proud of the dedicated efforts of the members and law enforcement partners in the investigation which resulted in the arrest of Mota Plasencia. “Drug trafficking has long been a catalyst for violence and other criminal activities that plague our communities,” he said. “This arrest sends a clear message that we will continue to be relentless in stopping the flow of these illegal substances throughout New York State.”

 

Norwood News recently reported on additional substantial drug takedowns in the Bedford Park and Crotona sections of The Bronx. Meanwhile, as reported, the City announced on Aug. 5 new measures to train citizens on how to prevent and reduce overdose deaths, especially in light of overdose rates of 75.3 percent in Hunts Point-Mott Haven.

 

A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.