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One of them, 31-year-old Fernando Bautista, tossed the MDMA into the Hudson River while investigators were executing a search warrant at his City Place apartment in Edgewater, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli.
If sold on the street, it would have fetched an estimated $16,000, the prosecutor said.
The other two — identified as Alejandra Arbelaez, 26, and Angel Tejada, 33 — were caught with 1,000 grams of the psychedelic stimulant Ethylone, worth an estimated $40,000 — at their Palisade Avenue high-rise apartment in Fort Lee, he said.
Investigators also seized $112,000 from the apartment, Molinelli said.
Ethylone, which often is imported from China, is less expensive than MDMA and substituted by dealers to increase profits.
The three-month investigation that led to the raids was conducted by members of the prosecutor’s Narcotic Task Force, along with the federal Department of Homeland Security and Fort Lee and Edgewater police.
Arbelaez was charged with drug possession and money laundering an dordered held on $85,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.
Bautista was being held on $100,000 in the jail on cahrges of possession MDMA with the intent to distribute it and evidence tampering.
Tejeda later turn himself in at Molinelli’s office and was ordered held on $100,000 bail on money laundering charges.
MUGSHOTS: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE
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