Palisades Park, Clifton Duo Busted With $1.8M In Cocaine

SOUTH HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Two unemployed men -- one from Palisades Park and the other from Clifton -- were caught with 30 pounds of cocaine worth $1.8 million on the street, authorities said Monday.

Audy Rodriguez, Edison Saldivar-Valdez
Photo Credit: *COURTESY: Bergen County Prosecutor*

Jerry DeMarco

01/25/2016 4:30 p.m.

Investigators found 35-year-old Audy Rodriguez of Clifton carrying the cocaine during a traffic stop in South Hackensack during Winter Storm Jonas on Saturday, then searched the Palisades Park home of Edison Saldivar-Valdez, 32, acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said.

There they found "numerous money wrappers as well as a machine used to detect counterfeit currency were seized," the prosecutor said.

Detectives charged both men with major drug possession with distribution intent offenses, among other counts.

Saldivar-Valdez was being held on $150,000 bail and Rodriguez on $100,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.

The investigation and the arrests stemmed from work by the Bergen County Prosecutor(s Office Narcotic Task Force and Palisades Park detectives, along with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department, Grewal said.

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